


Jubilees

by GemmaRose



Series: Kyla's Story [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, Bounty Posters, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Haki, I lied, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Original Character-centric, Painting, Scars, Shopping, Sparring, here is more self-indulgent nonsense, it's pretty much entirely original characters this time around, this time with EVEN MORE OCs!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-08-28 05:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 39,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8433655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: When Kyla left the Sunny with a sturdy boat under her feet and three swords on her hip, she planned to gather a capable crew and return to tackle the Grand Line under her own power. She didn’t plan for her new nakama to be so crazy, or to get sucked into quite so many shenanigans. When you grow up with the Straw Hats though, some things are bound to rub off.On Hiatus until I stop signing up for so damn many big bangs.





	1. Ryan

Kyla thanked the bartender with a smile, and dug into her lunch. It was a local dish, lots of spicy hot peppers, and she was chewing on one of the skinny black ones when she heard the chairs behind her scrape out.

"Can’t believe the new lieutenant is such a hardass." one of the newcomers groaned, the voice distinctly masculine. The sentiment was quickly echoed by his friends, and a quick glance over her shoulder revealed four Marines in the standard uniform. After noting that all four were armed, Kyla ducked her head and took a sip of her water. Sure bars were neutral turf, and nobody was going to recognize her from her childhood bounty poster, but it was still better safe than sorry. She had promised, after all. The Marines behind her ordered simply 'the usual', and Kyla couldn't help but listen in on their conversation as they started chatting.

"I heard those no good Straw Hats destroyed the G10 base the other day." a male voice said in a stage whisper, not the man who’d been complaining about their new boss a minute ago.

"What?!” a female voice yelped, her voice dropping to an equally terrible whisper immediately after. “Wouldn't that be in the paper?"

"No, the bigwigs up top are keeping it all hush hush. I only know because my sister was stationed there." the second man said, dropping the loud whisper for a more conversational tone.

"Those dickwads." one of them snarled, the third man of the group. "Where do they get off fucking up everyone's day?"

"Well they're too dumb to do anything productive." the sole woman of the group sneered. "That burglar is probably the captain's woman, just look how she dresses."

Kyla gritted her teeth, and forced herself to take another big bite of her food. Eat first, kick their asses later if they happened to be outside when she left. Promise or no, she wasn’t going to let Marines shit-talk her big sister with impunity.

"Have you heard the rumours about Black Leg though?" the first man said, and Kyla could practically hear him smirking.

"Yeah, he'll fuck anything with tits and a pretty face." the third one chuckled. "If even a fraction of those sleezy tabloid stories are true, he's deflowered half the Grand Line."

Kyla nearly choked on a mouthful of rice at that. Her mom, having sex? Eww! She shivered at the mental image, quickly repressed it, and swallowed hard. Sanji hadn't even hardly flirted with any ladies since they picked her back up after the whole Yabus Island incident, which meant those rumours the Marine mentioned were just that, rumours.

"What about that Zoro asshole?" the second man chimed in. "Filthy pirate probably cheated to get his title. At least Mihawk was a Shichibukai, he was respectable. Had a code of honour and all."

Oh, that was _it_. Kyla stood so fast her stool tipped over, and turned to face the Marines. Her hand flew to Sengo the 5 th, and she drew her second sword so quickly he all but sang. Sengo practically armoured himself, the blade blackening even as she unsheathed it, and she knew that all it would take was a word for the air around the metal to ignite. "You have three seconds to take that back." she growled, placing her blade against the neck of the Marine who’d dared to doubt her sensei. As if Zoro would’ve _needed_ to cheat to defeat Mihawk. The man only had one sword, for shit’s sake!

The other three were on their feet before she could speak the first number, three guns and a sword pointed at her chest.

"Three." she said as menacingly as she could, pitching her voice almost to a growl and forcing herself into the state of hyper-awareness she needed for observation haki. There was no way she’d be able to dodge a bullet completely at point blank, but with the split second head start from Haki she’d at least come out of this alive. It took all her concentrated anger to keep her armament haki from slipping away as she did so, but the blade remained a perfect gleaming black.

"Filthy pirate." the pale Marine at her mercy spat, turning to glare at her over his right shoulder. "What has that idiot Pirate King ever done for your sort?"

Kyla tilted her wrist and blood trickled down Sengo's blade, crimson on glossy black. Luffy had done more for her than this man could ever comprehend, but nobody here needed to know that. "Two." she snarled, looking up to meet the eyes of the other three Marines.

"Let him go, or I'll run you through." The woman said coldly, hefting a heavy sword with both hands.

"One." Kyla said, and Sengo slipped through skin with practiced ease. She hopped back as the Marine fell, and dodged the expected bullets as- half the bar leapt from their seats in a surge of white and blue. Huh, this would be fun, especially since she’d dropped her observation haki the second the bullets were past her head to focus on coating her body with clear armament haki. Most of the Marines had swords or guns, but a few had some manner of blunt club and a couple more had weapons which looked pretty interesting.

The lady of the group took a swing with her heavy sword, and Kyla made a quick note of the civilians rushing to hide or flee the building. Good, she wouldn't have to worry about hurting anyone who didn't have it coming. A bullet whizzed by her ear, and the freckled teen fell into an aggressive stance. Sengo would be more than enough to take on these mooks, and she could tell her second sword was more than happy to do so.

\---

Ryan stretched lazily as he meandered toward the Bear Meat Bar. Mr. Cooke had promised him a solo job for his birthday, something above-board to celebrate him being old enough to legally join the organisation, and for once he was actually looking forward to acting like a respectable citizen. The sounds of fighting drifted over, and he paused at the mouth of the alley across the street from his destination. Someone had gone and picked a fight with the Marines, and they were _winning_. The meeting was probably off, but maybe if he could get this new arrival on his side he’d be able to have a partner for riskier jobs.

The last Marine fell, and he stepped out of the alley with his thumbs hooked in his pockets, hands carefully away from the twin katana on his back. No sense provoking someone who was probably still in fight mode. He opened his mouth to greet the lady swordsman with something other than a pickup line, but quickly shut it and stepped back into the alley as more Marines came around the corner. Well, the lady was obviously flagging, and jumping into a fight against easily a dozen Marines with an unfamiliar and exhausted partner was a quick way to get arrested.

The woman drew a second sword with her left hand, and lifted the first, now in her right hand, to her face. She held it at an angle, blade to the sky, and he could tell she was smiling widely by the way her cheek dimpled. She lowered her sword, flicking it out to a casual stance, and he spotted a small stretch of metal which was almost clean compared to the rest of the blade. She’d licked it. She had licked the blood off her blade, and that was why the Marines were balking. She laughed, a childish ehihihi which he would’ve called a giggle had it not come from a swordsman in battle, and Ryan watched with wide eyes as she easily dispatched of the backup Marines.

Oh, now he _had_ to get on her good side. Fighting her would definitely be fun, but might get him killed, and Sairia wouldn’t be happy if he went and got killed on his goddamn birthday, regardless of how nice a bookend it would make.

“That was pretty damn impressive.” he said, forcing himself to appear casual as he stepped out of the alley. She was wiping her blades on a Marine’s shirt as he approached, and lifted her head to fix him with a skeptical look. The left half of her face, which he hadn’t been able to see until just now, was as pale as her forearms and just as shiny. Whatever fire she’d been forged in, it had certainly left its mark.

She ducked her head, a cascade of small two-strand braids falling around her face to curtain off the scar, and he held out his hand. “Name’s Ryan.”

She stood and sheathed her swords, then gripped his hand and shook it firmly. Her palm was rough with callouses, the back of her hand uneven and unnaturally smooth from the burn scar. “Ren Kyla.” she smirked and tilted her head towards the bar, making the three earrings in her right ear glint in the sunlight. “Hope you weren’t too set on getting a drink here.”

“Nah.” Ryan shook his head. “But I was thinking I could treat you to one down the street?” he gestured towards the next nearest bar, and watched her smirk widen into an easy smile.

“Well, aren’t you a gentleman.” she punched him in the shoulder, much harder than Sairia usually did but not hard enough that it felt like she meant to actually hurt him. “I prefer not to drink in the middle of the day, though.”

“Well, there’s a great little hole in the wall place a block and a half that way.” Ryan jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “Lunch?”

Ren laughed, and hooked her thumbs in her pants pockets. “Sure. Those bastards made me fight them before I finished.” she frowned at the bar, and Ryan raised an eyebrow as he started towards his favourite dive cafe.

“Hope you reminded them bars are neutral turf.”

Ren shrugged. “Well, technically I drew my swords first, but they were talking shit.”

Ryan frowned at her. “You could’ve just left, or challenged them to a fight outside.”

“I may be a pirate, but I’ve got my pride.” Ren huffed, crossing her arms over her haramaki. Ryan felt his eyebrows climbing towards his hairline. This girl was a pirate? He might have to reconsider getting friendly with her. If she had a bounty, it could lead to some easy money.

\---

One second Kyla was following the nice, if slightly forward, local swordsman towards another place to find lunch, the next she was tangled up with him on the ground with heavy duty metal cords wrapped around both of them. Stupid shitty Marines and their stupid shitty net guns. One had gotten her from behind while another shot Ryan from the front, and they’d staggered into each other in such a way that neither of them could reach their swords.

“Stupid shitty net guns.” she snarled as they were loaded into a cart. Ryan had stopped struggling, thankfully, but it was still far from comfortable.

“And here I thought it was going to be a nice, simple day.” Ryan groaned.

“Have you ever actually met a pirate before?” Kyla asked, a grin flickering across her face despite their circumstances. “Nothing stays simple when we get involved.”

Ryan didn’t reply, and Kyla fell silent as their cart was wheeled towards the Marine base. Fighting her way out would be pretty easy, she’d spent enough time in Marine buildings to have a decent understanding of how they were laid out. The real problem would be if they pulled her bangs back for a mugshot. Then she’d have more Marines on her tail than she could possibly fight, and her adventure would be over before it even properly began. She had to play this smart, keep her secret until such a time as she had a crew which could stand up to people who would want to hurt her for who her family was.

They were both cuffed before the nets were cut off of them, and Kyla bared her teeth as a low-ranking Marine pulled her swords from her haramaki. “If any of them are damaged when I get them back, I’ll take your fucking head off.”

He paled, and backed away quickly with her weapons clutched to his chest. Another Marine took Ryan’s swords, though he left the harness with their sheaths strapped through the boy’s vest, and they were marched into the seastone-green building. Kyla scowled at the denden camera as they took her picture, and when she was shoved into a cell near the back of the building she was a bit surprised to find Ryan shoved in after her.

“What did I even do?” the blond yelled after the Marines, rolling to his feet and leaning against the door to shout down the hall. “Can’t a guy earn an honest living in this city?”

“You know they’re not gonna answer that.” Kyla rolled her eyes, lifting her hands to examine the cuffs. Simple metal, thin enough Zoro could probably break them without hardly trying if any Marine was ever dumb enough to try restraining him with a pair. The metal loops were linked with a locking mechanism which would open both at the same time, but without a chain Kyla wasn’t sure she’d be able to get her hands behind her back to get at her knife.

“It’s the principle of the thing.” Ryan shrugged, turning to look at her with an almost disappointed expression. “You couldn’t just keep it to a damn bar fight, could you?”

Kyla scowled, and her hands drifted towards the empty spot where her swords belonged. “I’m a pirate with pride.” she responded, keeping her chin high and meeting his eyes. “Marines shit-talk my family, I cannot let it slide.”

“Your family?” Ryan asked skeptically.

Shit, that was more than she’d meant to reveal to a complete stranger. She had to play this cool, confirm what she’d already told him then deflect his attention before he could ask a question she didn’t have a safe answer to, like what crew she’d grown up in. Kyla shrugged and rose to her feet. “I grew up on a pirate ship.” she rested her weight on her left heel and turned around, facing the plain grey walls. “Can you get something for me?”

“Wow, turning your back on a bounty hunter?” Ryan still sounded skeptical. Kyla rolled her eyes. _Islanders_. At least he wasn’t continuing on the topic of her family.

“I assume you want to get out of here?” she rolled her shoulders and layered her back with clear armament haki, just in case. “There’s a knife tucked in the back of my waistband, under my haramaki. Get it for me and you can tag along when I break out of this shitty cell.”

Ryan muttered something she couldn’t make out, but a moment later Sanji’s birthday gift was resting in her hands. The simple yet elegant black leather was warm against her palm, and the handle was already familiar to hold. So, Ryan was trustworthy. He would’ve made a good first member of her crew if he wasn’t apparently a bounty hunter. “Are you really a bounty hunter?” she asked, coating the knife’s blade in haki and pulling it out of the sheath. Twisting it to get at the lock was simple enough, and it was just a flick of her wrist to force it in and shatter the mechanism.

“Well, sorta.” Ryan shrugged as she turned around to face him again, peeling metal cuffs from her skin. “My job’s mostly intimidation, the odd assassination, but sometimes I get lucky and find a bounty head.”

“So you’re a sellsword?” Kyla tilted her head slightly. She’d never actually met a sellsword, or at least none as heavily scarred as Ryan was. Was it standard for them to wear beat up vests and collarless button down shirts, or did this guy just have a thing for self-altered clothes and the colours red and black? Probably the latter, honestly.

“Well, if I’d made my meeting at Bear Meat I’d be an official mercenary by now, but whatever.” the blond shrugged again. “Can always reschedule.”

Trustworthy and already willing to do relatively illegal work? Oh, this guy would be an awesome start to her crew. If she could convince him, of course. Luffy had indebted each of their nakama to him and used that to get them to join the crew. Actually, he’d more or less broken Zoro out of a Marine base, so this would probably be enough to get Ryan on her side. And even if it wasn’t, she had enough treasure in the Dancer’s hold to pay a sellsword until he decided to actually join the crew.

“Hold out your hands.” she said, twirling her knife to point away from herself again. The sheath she tucked in a pocket, freeing her right hand. He did, and Kyla armoured her palm as she put it behind the lock between his wrists, making sure the calloused skin skin was stronger than her blade. A quick thrust and the lock crumbled, his cuffs loosening just as hers had a minute ago. Ryan gaped, shock clear on his face. Kyla smirked a bit as she crossed to the cell door and looked out into the hallway. No guards that she could see, nor video denden mushi. Was South Blue really so peaceful they didn’t have any security measures beyond the absolutely rudimentary?

The door lock took three stabs to completely give way, but Kyla didn’t push the door open immediately. Instead she took a step back and inspected the blade of her knife. Unblemished, of course. She hadn’t so much as chipped a blade since the fight on Yabus, and her haki was more than a match for plain old iron. “First things first.” she squared her shoulders and pushed the door open, letting the crossbar catch on her fingers before it could strike the cell’s bars. “We need our swords back.”

Sensing her swords was second nature by now, and she strode without hesitation towards the door they’d been lead in through. The guard leaning against the wall reached for a pouch on his belt, one Kyla was fairly certain held a baby denden mushi, and she bashed the hilt of her knife against his throat. He gagged, hands flying up on what she knew to be pure reflex, and a red-sleeved arm hooked around the Marine’s neck. Seconds later he was slumped against the wall, and Ryan was smirking. Right, the occasional assassination. She _definitely_ wanted this guy on her crew.

“Marines keep all confiscated items in one spot.” Kyla said quietly as she started down the hall, heading further into the base instead of back the way they’d come.

“How can you tell we’re going the right way?” Ryan asked, his voice similarly lowered. The halls were empty, and Kyla could only guess that most of the Marines had duties in other parts of the base. Or maybe the ones who worked in this part were all on lunch break, since it was still only barely after noon.

“Come on, don’t you trust me?” Kyla teased, grinning over her shoulder. He’d fallen in step behind her, the same way she and her family did when Luffy was leading them somewhere. He was practically hers already.

“You’re a pirate.” he answered, his tone and expression perfectly deadpan.

“A pirate who just busted you out of a Marine jail cell.” Kyla smirked, turning to face front again. “This one.” she opened a door on her right, and from the solid smack she’d just slammed it into somebody. There was a yelp, a crash, and she winced. Okay, she probably should’ve Observed first, but a good clean fight with a Marine was nothing to regret. And even better, there, right across the small room, was Hibiki. Sengo was somewhere in the room too, but she’d have to focus harder to find him without pawing through the barrel of confiscated katanas.

The tachi felt heavy in her right hand, and she could faintly feel the distinct impression of her teeth in the silk cord wrapping of its hilt. She’d have to practice more with using her swords in every combination after this. And if Ryan joined, she’d have someone to spar with! Kyla moved to tuck her knife in the back of her haramaki, and jolted when cold metal slapped around her wrist. She tried to pull her hand to her side and her haramaki twisted half an inch, pulled by the other metal loop attached where she hung her swords. _Shit_. She’d never wielded any of her swords but Sengo one-handed in her right, and even him only when she had her first sword in her left. Well, this would be a fun fight.

“Hey, Marine bitch!” Ryan slammed the door, and Kyla spun with Hibiki up in a loose guard. The Marine’s back was to her now, she could sever an artery in a second and the fight would be over, but she froze before the tachi had moved even an inch. Ryan had one hand in the bucket of katanas, and as he drew the one his hand had fastened around an intimately familiar sound filled the room. Sengo. The blond had drawn _Sengo_ , her first meito, the sword she’d won all the way back on Soreth, the blade with which she had first killed a man, the weapon whose presence had kept her functioning through those long months on Yabus.

“That’s mine!” Kyla snapped, slamming Hibiki’s hilt against the Marine’s skull and stepping over the woman’s slumped form to point the tachi at Ryan. “Give him back.”

“Him?” Ryan said, giving the blade a considering look. “Never had a him before. Let’s see how he measures up to my graceful ladies.” he flicked his wrist casually, and Sengo’s tip grazed a shelf.

“He’s _my_ sword.” Kyla snarled, stepping forward again. “Give. Him. _Back_.”

“You’re down a hand, and I doubt you even know how to use that sword you found.” Ryan scoffed, twirling Sengo in lazy, sloppy figure eights. “You want your sword back?” the blond stopped twirling Sengo and pointed him at her. “Take him from me.”

Oh, now that was a challenge if she’d ever heard one. Did this pale-ass islander really think he could best the student of the World’s Greatest Swordsman? Not that he knew she was Zoro’s student, of course, but still, she was a pirate, and he wasn’t. No damn contest. “You asked for it.” 

\---

Ryan grunted as the air was driven out of his lungs by the back of a blade, and before he knew it the sword in his hands was no longer in his hands.

“Like I said.” Kyla huffed, sliding the tachi into its sheath on her haramaki and catching the katana with an effortless twirl. “He’s mine.” she twirled the sword behind her back, and her left wrist swung forward with a loose metal cuff wrapped around it, dangling a shattered chain. “Find your own katanas, and we’ll be out of here.” she reached into the barrel, and immediately drew out a saya which went, without a doubt, to the sword in her hand.

Ryan opened and closed his mouth a few times, then just shook his head to clear it. This girl was even more badass than he’d thought. A bit of rummaging turned up Baila and Voski, two of the very few unsheathed weapons in the barrel, and he slid them into place on his back. Their weight was comforting, as familiar as breathing, and he ran his fingers over their hilts. Whatever was up with Kyla’s katana, he was glad it hadn’t affected his swords by proximity.

“I can’t believe this.” the dark pirate snarled, glaring at the barrel of swords as if it had personally wronged her. “My other sword’s not in here.”

If he hadn’t already prodded her about her devotion to her swords- and found her just as loyal to her blades as a good swordsman should be- he might’ve suggested she just take one from the barrel. But a good weapon was hard to replace, especially one you had a history with. Losing either of his swords would be like losing a limb, and it was no doubt the same for this pirate girl. An alarm started blaring in the hallway, and Ryan jumped.

“No time to go looking for it.” he said, turning around and throwing the door open. “We gotta get the hell outta here.”

“There they are!”

“Great.” Kyla huffed, and her swords rang as they left their sheaths, their blades much darker than they’d been a minute ago. Ryan drew his in the same instant, but they were silent until they met the sword of a Marine rushing up the hall from deeper in the base.

“What, you not up for another fight?” Ryan teased, glancing over his shoulder at where she’d assumed a position behind him. Their shoulders were almost touching, but somehow she managed to avoid knocking into him.

“If anyone here’s not ready, it’s these uniformed monkeys.” Kyla fired back.

“Well then, Kyla.” Ryan smirked and disarmed a Marine, proceeding to elbow them in the face, forcing them to back off. “Let’s show them what happens when you piss off competent swordsmen.”

Kyla laughed at that, and Ryan heard the sound of shattering metal followed by a distressed cry. “Yes, let’s.”

\---

Ryan didn’t speak much as they fought through the halls, and for that Kyla was grateful. She had armoured her swords black as she drew them, but between the fight earlier and the loss of her first sword it took most of her concentration to keep them moving forward through the waves of Marines.

“So, Ryan.” Kyla blocked a sword aimed at her ribs, and shoved a boot in the offending Marine’s chest. “Ever considered piracy?” her blades danced out and pierced the shoulders of a Marine with a big heavy gun, making him drop it on his feet. The would-be mercenary at her back laughed, a harsh kahaha sound, and she heard a body fall to the floor.

“Captain, you only had to ask.”

“I’d welcome you aboard,” Kyla lunged and slashed across the chests and raised arms of Marines who had formed a human wall in front of the door. “But first we gotta get out of here.”

“Leave that to me, ma’am.” Ryan laughed again, and Kyla did a quick turn to position herself between her new crewmate and the Marines still coming from deeper in the building as he took her spot and pressed on the wounded line of enemies. They were making progress, but not fast enough. Her arms could only take so many hits, and keeping fully black haki up on both swords was draining her energy faster than she’d expected.

“There’s the door!” Ryan called, giddy as a schoolboy, and Kyla swung Hibiki through each weapon she could reach before backflipping away from the horde of advancing Marines. Thank the gods for high ceilings, seriously. Sure enough, Ryan had managed to clear a path to the front door they were dragged in through earlier, and Kyla made a mental note that she’d have to clean all this blood off her boots later as she crossed the corpse-strewn hallway. Or at least, partially corpse-strewn. Some of the poor sods were still groaning in pain.

“Impressive.” she gave him a nod, and broke off the interior doorknob at its base before slamming the door. “That oughtta give us a few seconds head start.”

“I’ll lead the way.” Ryan sheathed his swords as they left the Marine base at a run, and jabbed a thumb at his chest.

“Go ahead.” Kyla slid her weapons home, feeling ever so slightly off-balance with only two weights at her side, and fell into step behind him. They were just past the gate when the Marines broke their own door down, and Ryan picked up the pace a bit. They ran through the streets, an angry mob of white and blue on their heels, and Kyla laughed. This was what it was to be a pirate, all right.

\---

Ryan lead the badass young pirate captain, his captain now, through the twisting back roads of Shedo. She managed to keep up, though only barely through some of the trickier spots, and after a few minutes the sound of their pursuers was no more distinct than the crowd noise of the nearest busy street.

“We’ve got a few minutes, at least.” he reached up to double check that both Baila and Voski were in their sheaths, and lowered his hand once it met both their hilts. “The Marines don’t like to come down here.”

‘Here’ happened to be a few dozen square blocks of burnt out bungalows and apartment buildings. To an outsider it looked like little more than a bunch of accidents waiting to happen, but to Ryan it looked like home.

“What is that stink?” Kyla mumbled, and Ryan looked back to see his captain had pulled the seastone green bandana around her neck up to cover her nose and mouth.

“The dump is just upwind of us.” he explained, starting down the street at a more leisurely pace. “It’s why the city never bothered trying to repair the place.” he paused at the corner, and gestured with one arm and a mocking smirk. “Welcome to The Blanks, captain.”

“I do have a ship at the docks, you know.” her face was scrunched behind the bandana, and Ryan rolled his shoulders.

“I’ve got some things to pick up before I can leave.”

Kyla nodded, and Ryan heard her booted footsteps following him down the street. A couple of kids waved at him, and one of the braver girls abandoned their game of street-ball to run right up to him. “Didja get it?”

He shook his head, not slowing his pace. “Never even made the meeting.”

Her face fell, and she crossed skinny arms over her filthy pink blouse as he walked past her. “You said you were gonna be a merc.” she called after him.

“Don’t worry.” he raised a hand to wave goodbye over his shoulder. “I got a job anyway.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes, and after the third block Kyla sped up to walk at his side. “Friend of yours?” she asked, jerking her head back the way they’d come. The kids were out of hearing range now, all back to playing their game.

“Hopeful apprentice.” he stopped on the doorstep of an apartment building which had most of its windows boarded over, and dug in his pocket for the key. “If I’d made my meeting, I would’ve been able to teach her enough so she could get merc jobs of her own and officially join when she had enough experience.”

“I can’t tell if that’s adorable, or absolutely ruthless.”

“Who says it can’t be both?” Ryan shrugged, fitting key to half-broken lock and jiggling the doorknob until the tumblers all fell into place. Kyla entered on his heels, and the door automatically locked behind them. “I’m home!” he called out, and heavy footsteps clomped over to the second door. It had been glass, once upon a time, but in the years since it had been filled in with plywood and copious nails. The heavy footsteps were bad, though. She never stomped unless she was pissed.

“About time.” Sairia threw the door open and gave him a withering glare as she halted her spin, twin braids swinging with the excess momentum. That only lasted for a second, though, until she saw the blood on his clothes and bruises no doubt already forming on what little of his skin was visible. “I thought you were going to come home first.” her eyes then fixed on Kyla, and Ryan felt the pirate captain, his captain, stiffen warily at his side. “Who’s this?”

“His captain.” Kyla answered before he could, pulling the bandana down to hang around her neck again. “Who’re you, his girlfriend?”

“Eww.” Ryan chorused with Sairia, both of them pulling disgusted faces.

“I’m his sister.” Sairia crossed her arms. “What do you mean you’re his captain?”

“Funny story, actually.” Ryan pushed past Sairia into the first floor, and made a beeline for the shabby crate which held most of his equally shabby worldly belongings. “I never actually made it to that meeting.”

“Please tell me this story has a good ending.” Sairia sighed, letting the door fall shut.

“Well...” Ryan hesitated, a patched up duffle bag in his hands, and got a fist to the back of his head.

“We got grabbed by Marines, he’s part of my pirate crew, and as soon as he’s grabbed his shit we’re leaving.” Kyla said, her tone firm. “I’d rather get out of town sooner than later, so as soon as you’re done here?” she tilted her head, and Ryan let Sairia’s heel hit him in the ribs. Ow, those were probably bruised.

“You’re a _pirate_ now?!” she yelled, smacking the back of his head again. “What the fuck ever happened to getting out of this dump?”

“Like I’m staying here.” Kyla scoffed. “My ship’s down at the docks, just about ready to set sail.”

“Fine.” Sairia threw her hands up and stalked off to where her things were strewn about. “Guess we’re going somewhere totally new.” she grabbed a stained blue backpack they’d found a few months back, and started stuffing it with her clothes and medical supplies. “This ship of yours better have somewhere I can patch him up.” she huffed, getting to her feet and slinging the bag over her shoulders. Ryan glanced between the crate and his duffle, and added another shirt before snapping shut the clasps which remained attached on both sides of the fabric.

“Is she coming with us?” Kyla frowned, jabbing a thumb at Sairia.

“Package deal, captain.” Ryan grabbed Sairia’s hand, so much darker and softer than his own, and the force with which she clung to him was the only thing that betrayed her nerves. “I go, she goes.”

“Okay. We done here?” 

Sairia scowled, but said nothing as Ryan pushed open both doors. He stuck his key in the lock of the outer one, and Sairia left hers in the entryway. They were finally getting out of here, might as well let somebody else have the place.

“To the docks!” he lifted an arm in the direction of the main port, and started off through the streets at a jog.


	2. Sairia

Somehow they managed to slip out of port without the Marines noticing them, probably thanks in part to the fact that they weren’t flying a pirate flag yet, and as the island of Sint shrank towards the horizon behind them Kyla gave Ryan’s sister a wary glance. The girl didn’t look like too terribly much, large and soft with braided freaking pigtails and a ratty pink floral dress, but she had all but dragged Ryan off by the ear as soon as they were onboard. The idea of having a medic on her crew was appealing, but Kyla wasn’t sure yet how she felt about this girl having such control over her swordsman. The only thing that would make that less awkward was if she made Sairia her vice captain. Actually, that would make sense. The doctor of a ship should have a fair amount of sway on the crew, so when Sairia agreed to join officially she’d become the vice captain.

“Hey.”

Kyla grabbed the boot aimed at her ribs, and gave Ryan’s sister a skeptical look. “Really?” she released the girl’s foot, and got to her feet. Her still-unnamed cat dug his tiny claws into her shirt, and remained perched on her shoulder.

“Let’s just get this straight before my brother finishes cleaning his swords.” the taller girl crossed her arms and glared, probably a fierce expression to normal people. “He may be your lackey, but I’m not interested in being a pirate. I’m here to keep my idiot alive, and that’s it.”

“Fine by me.” Kyla shrugged. Nami and Robin had started off the same way, and yet they were still with Luffy even now. It was just a matter of time, really. “But if you’re staying on my ship you have to pull your weight.”

“I’ll treat your wounds too.” she rolled her pale brown eyes, and Kyla socked her on the shoulder.

“Obviously. But I’m talking shit like helping with dinner and dishes and other chores.”

“Fine.”

“And one more thing.” Kyla grinned at the disgruntled tag-along medic. “I’ll need to know your name.”

The girl blinked, then chuckled. It was a raspy ehuhuhu sort of sound, but her face lit up with it. “Sairia.” she held out a hand, and Kyla found her grip firm.

“Captain Ren Kyla. Welcome aboard, Sairia.”

\---

“So, how did you get those?” Ryan asked over dinner, pointing at Kyla with his fork.

Kyla swallowed, and looked down at her forearms, which was undeniably what her swordsman was referring to. The pale skin was the largest of her small collection of scars, a mark of her first major battle, not unlike the deep gash across Zoro’s chest. “Well, it was a few years ago.” she said slowly, running a hand over the hilts of her swords and frowning slightly when there were only two. “There were some enemy pirates holding my friends hostage, and I couldn’t beat them with just my normal moves, so I had to bust out the big guns.” her mouth tugged into a small smile at the memory of seeing _Nenshō Miaka Dan_ curling through the air for the first time.

“What, did one of them have a fire devil fruit or something?” Sairia frowned, evidently perplexed.

“Oh, no, nothing like that.” Kyla shook her head, a little shiver running through her at the thought of fighting Luffy’s big brother. “I set my swords on fire, and I didn’t have a lot of practice with the technique yet, so the flames were too big and hot.”

Ryan’s mouth fell open, and Sairia dropped her fork.

“You set your swords on fire?!” the medic squawked.

“No fucking way!” Ryan blurted a second later.

“What, need proof?” Kyla smirked. She’d never shown this trick to somebody who didn’t already know it was possible, so it might be fun to see how he reacted.

“Hell yeah I need proof!” Ryan said loudly. “How can you set a sword on fire and use it without blunting the blade?”

Kyla shrugged, and stood to draw Sengo. He was always the easiest to ignite, pulling her anger and bloodlust to the surface almost as soon as he was in her hand. She thought briefly of the Marines she’d killed earlier, the ones who had been smearing her family’s name, and her second sword burst into brilliant orange and gold flames. Ryan yelped, jerked backwards, and the spin of the chair deposited him on the floor. Sairia screamed and recoiled, but managed to stay in her seat. Kyla giggled, and let the flames burn out.

“He’s not even hot.” she ran her fingers along the flat of Sengo’s blade, which was pleasantly warm.

“He?” Sairia’s face twisted in a frown as Ryan picked himself up off the floor.

“Yeah.” Kyla said slowly, sliding Sengo back in his sheath as she took her seat again. “I haven’t had Hibiki long enough to tell if it’s got a preference, though.”

“Ha!” Ryan grinned smugly, poking Sairia in the arm. “I’ve told Sai swords have personalities a billion times, but she always called it bullshit.”

“Because it is.” the medic huffed, taking a bite of her dinner. “Inanimate objects don’t have personalities.”

Kyla rolled her eyes. “Trust me, they do.” she ran her palm over the two sayas hanging from her hip, and frowned slightly again at the third’s absence. “Some of them, at any rate.”

“Like, Baila and Voski are twins, but Voski doesn’t like fighting half as much as her sister.”

Sairia rolled her eyes, but Kyla nodded. She’d only known one pair of identical twins in her life, and they were pretty damn far from having identical temperaments, so it made sense that twin swords would be the same way. “Hibiki’s way more mellow than Sengo, and even though I’ve had him for years he still sometimes cuts when I don’t mean to.”

“Can we maybe talk about something else?” Sairia asked pointedly.

“Come on, Ri-Ri.” Ryan grinned, digging an elbow into her side. “Don’t you wanna listen in on a discussion about the personalities of our swords and how they serve in fights?”

His tone was teasing, and Sairia smiled as she placed a hand on his face, shoving him to arm’s length. “How about the captain explains why there’s a goddamn aquarium on her ship, huh?” she retorted with the same inflection. Kyla felt a sudden pang of longing for her family, but did her best to keep it off her face.

“Well why wouldn’t there be?” she frowned, looking at the back wall of the all purpose room, which prominently showcased a mostly-empty aquarium. She’d caught a few fish on her way to Sint, but it was a big aquarium. Ryan and Sairia just stared at her like she’d grown a second head.

“Because it’s a fucking weird thing to have on a ship!” Ryan exclaimed after a short silence.

“If we didn’t have an aquarium, where would we put the fish?” Kyla gestured at the largest one she’d caught, something almost as big as she was with a weird snout thing. She was pretty sure that it was edible, but even if it wasn’t, it was the coolest thing she’d caught yet so it was gonna stay.

“In the fridge?” Sairia’s face scrunched up.

“Yeah, but then you have to use it right away. With the aquarium, we can keep what we catch until we wanna cook it.” Kyla grinned and took a bite of her dinner. It was nothing fancy, she knew for a fact that the same type of dish was served on Marine ships, but it was warm and filling. She already missed Sanji’s cooking.

“What about the weight?” Ryan frowned, looking thoughtfully at the glass which stretched across the entire back wall. “I’ve done enough jobs at the docks to know weight has to be balanced through the whole ship, and water weighs a lot.”

“Oh, my weights help balance it out.” Kyla grinned. “And the bow has some extra reinforcing, so that does the rest.”

“Do I even want to know why the bow is reinforced?” Sairia groaned, dropping her head into her left hand, fork still gripped in the other.

“My big bro didn’t want me to sink the Dancer before I found people to help me run her.” Kyla shrugged. It would probably come in handy even now, though. She was a much better swordsman than she was helmsman.

“While we’re on the topic of your weird ship.” Ryan speared a piece of broccoli and twisted his fork between his fingers, dousing the vegetable in sauce. “What’s with the deck?” he jerked his head towards the door, but Kyla figured he didn’t mean the yard or so of walking space just outside the room.

“I don’t know, really.” she shrugged again. “But it’s kinda nice, having some green around even in the middle of the ocean.”

They lapsed into something like comfortable silence after that, and Kyla kept half an eye on her new crewmate and his sister as they ate. They had better manners than Luffy, but that wasn’t really saying much. Ryan and Sairia both ate quickly, and Kyla hid a smile in her glass of milk when her new swordsman let his sister have the last of the rice. He was _exactly_ the kind of person she wanted on her crew, ruthless in battle without being cruel the rest of the time.

“What about your scars?” Kyla asked after a while, gesturing towards Ryan with a fork. He’d rolled his sleeves up earlier, and both his forearms were littered with pale lines of scar tissue. “Any interesting stories there?”

Ryan grinned, and tapped his fork against a thick one which covered the top of his left wrist. “Almost got my hand cut off by a hooker, once.”

“No, that wasn’t the hooker.” Sairia shook her head. “That was the guy who got mad because you _thought_ he was a hooker. The hooker got you in the thigh, remember?”

“Oh, right. Wrecked my new jeans, too.” he scowled and rubbed his leg, presumably where the scar in question was.

“Man, and I thought my life was interesting.” Kyla chuckled. “How do you mistake someone for a prostitute?”

“By being an idiot.” Sairia smirked.

“In my defense, I was drunk.” Ryan said, leveling his fork at Sairia. “And he was coming on to me pretty hard.”

Kyla grinned. Her swordsman was full of interesting stories. Something tugged on the right leg of her pants, and she stretched her leg out a bit. A minute later, her cat was perched on her shoulder. Absurdly, Ryan sniggered into his drink.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a fuzzy lil parrot there, captain.”

Kyla frowned at her swordsman- _hers_ , that word kept coming up and it made her just a bit giddy every time. “What?”

“Oh, you know the old stereotype.” Ryan waved his hand dismissively.

“I really don’t.” Kyla frowned harder. “I grew up with pirates, so I never paid much attention to stereotypes.”

Sairia grinned, and patted Ryan’s arm. “Back before the Marines were so well organized, the corners of the Blues were pirate havens. And in that area there are these really brightly coloured, super smart birds called parrots.”

“I’ve seen parrots before.” Kyla nodded, dumping a forkful of rice into her palm and holding it up to her cat. “One time one of them was following my mom around, so Sensei taught it to swear and it followed Mom around all day squawking out insults.”

Ryan snorted. “Nice.”

“Anyway, since pirates made their bases where parrots lived, the smarter ones would catch the birds and sell them. And once the Marines got their shit together and started protecting the corners of the Blues, you could tell which pirate crews were really strong because their captain would usually have a pet parrot. Like, to prove that they’d been out to the corners.” Sairia smiled and shoveled the last of her broccoli into her mouth, along with some of her chicken.

“And lemme guess, these pet parrots were trained to perch on the captain’s shoulder?” Kyla asked, curling her fingers to scratch her pet’s fluffy cheek.

“Yeah.” Ryan nodded. “The back of their coats must’ve been a mess.”

Kyla snorted, and turned her head to look at the kitten currently licking her palm with his rough little tongue. “Parrot, huh?” it looked up, and purred at a frequency which tickled down her spine. She giggled, and scooped the pale orange ball of fluff into her arms. “Okay, from now on, your name is Parrot.”

“You hadn’t even named it yet?” Ryan asked, eyebrows lifting towards his messy fringe.

“Hadn’t found anything he responded to.” Kyla shrugged, settling Parrot in her lap and petting him absently with her right hand. She’d have to move him when it was time to do the dishes, but until then this was good. She had two people to help her run the ship, a name for her cat, and the peaceful sea beneath her. Not bad, for a pirate not even a whole month into her journey.

\---

Kyla groaned, and wished her feet would respond properly. She was a swordsman, a _captain_ , she shouldn’t be getting dragged back to her own ship by a girl she'd only known for the past month. Her fingers twitched, and she struggled to form a fist. “Lemme at ‘im.” she mumbled, hand refusing to close over the spot where her swords should be. Where Sengo should be, ready for her to draw energy from to go back and finish the battle. She should be stronger than this, dammit!

“Oh _hell_ no!” Sairia snarled, and Kyla whined as the young medic gave her a smack upside the head. “You’re lucky Ryan was there to distract them, or we’d both be dead.”

“Coulda took’m,” the freckled pirate stumbled over her words, tongue feeling unnaturally heavy in her mouth, and was rewarded by the arms hooked under hers hiking up higher.

“All due respect, Kyla, but if you don’t shut up I’m knocking you out myself.”

Kyla opened her mouth to argue, but her tongue felt like lead and so no words came out. She vaguely heard Ryan arrive as everything finished fading to black, but then she was unconscious.

-

When Kyla awoke, it was in on a not quite familiar couch. The rumbling purr of Parrot on her stomach and gentle rocking of waves, however, was almost intimately familiar. Familiar, and quite handily grounding. She was in the makeshift infirmary on the Dancer, really just a couch in the corner of the all-purpose room where they kept the medical supplies, and a tilt of her heavy head confirmed that she was in fact hooked up to an IV bag half full of blood. Had she really passed out from blood loss? She covered her eyes with her left arm, her elbow pressing against the back of the long couch. She’d never live this down, losing so completely to a gang of morons. She’d beaten worse than them as a kid, for shit’s sake!

Her fingers twitched toward her hip, where her swords usually hung. She needed to stop reaching for the Marine sword before Hibiki. That split second delay had cost her the fight, in the end. She frowned, and moved her arm down to rest over Parrot so she could hook two fingers in the currently empty loop. More than that, though, she needed a new sword. Something nice, maybe even better than the first sword she’d ever swung. Well, nothing could ever really beat that in terms of sentimental value, but it hadn’t exactly been a meito.

“How long was I out?” she groaned, shifting Parrot to her lap and sitting up. Sairia stood up quickly from the table and grabbed a bowl which had been sitting near her. Soup, Kyla realized belatedly.

“Most of the day.” Sairia answered, handing over the bowl and a spoon. Once Kyla had a firm hold on both, the medic fell onto the other end of the couch with a groan, flicking her head as she did so to make her single plait of hair hang over the back cushions. “You know, I thought Ryan was exaggerating how stupid you get in a fight.” she said after a minute of comfortable silence.

“I don’t-”

Sairia held up a finger with a poisonous look, and Kyla shut her mouth. It had only taken most of her childhood to learn exactly how bad of an idea it was to sass your doctor, and she wasn’t about to repeat old mistakes less than two months into her fresh start.

“You’re reckless, and overconfident, and terrible at judging your own strength.” Sairia recited, as if she’d rehearsed this speech. Hell, maybe she had. “If Ryan and I hadn’t been there, you would’ve died.” she brought a hand up to scrub at her eyes, and Kyla winced a little inside. Ryan’s sister was crying, and it was her fault.

“Do you even get that?” Sairia’s voice rose abruptly, the round-faced girl shooting to her feet and whirling to stand in front of Kyla, not quite towering over her but certainly cutting a very imposing figure, despite being one of the least imposing people Kyla had ever met. Parrot went quiet, and raised his head to glare at the medic as she continued. “Do you understand that you have a crew now who would be sad if you died?” she slammed a hand on the back of the couch, just over Kyla’s shoulder, and pale tearful brown eyes met with dark dry ones. “You can’t just run around throwing yourself into fights we can’t win!”

Kyla opened her mouth, but before she could find the words Sairia continued speaking.

“You’re our captain.” she said as she straightened back up, voice down to slightly below her normal speaking volume. It did little to hide the slight hitch when she spoke, though the tears streaming down her cheeks made it hard to conceal anyways. “We can’t lose you, not like that.” Sairia sat down heavily on the other end of the couch, and Kyla gently nudged her cat off her lap so she could cross her legs. Parrot stood obligingly, and promptly climbed the back of the couch to settle on her shoulder.

“As soon as you were stable, Ryan went back out.” Sairia tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “He came back covered in blood, and he won’t tell me how much is his.” she dragged one frayed sleeve across her eyes, and turned her head to face Kyla again. “The last time he did that, it was because I’d been stabbed and the wound got infected. I nearly died.” her breath hitched, nose beginning to run. “They found the head of the man who did it a few weeks later, with the knife stuck in his forehead.”

Kyla whistled a low note. “The most any of my brothers ever did for me was gouge a guy’s eyes out.” she smiled tentatively. “Ryan must love you a lot if he’s willing to kill for you.”

Sairia huffed and rolled her eyes, the tears slowing as she wiped her nose on the back of her hand, and the back of her hand on the arm of the couch. “He’s killed two guys for me in the past ten years. For you, I think he killed ten guys in two hours.”

“What?” Kyla’s heart leapt in her chest, and she set down her empty bowl in the middle of her crossed legs. If Ryan was the sort of swordsman who would kill people not involved in a fight to let off steam, she had seriously misjudged him and needed to get him off her crew asap.

“Don’t worry, he’s not fond of killing bystanders either.” Sairia uncurled her legs and stood, holding out a hand for the bowl and spoon. “You seem alright enough to me, so hold still and I’ll get this shit out of you.” she reached for the IV needle, and Kyla held carefully still as that was removed and a little gauze pad taped over the pinprick. “That cut on your back’s going to scar, though.”

Kyla scowled at that, and her left hand twitched towards where her swords usually hung. Zoro wouldn’t be happy if he saw that. Swordsmen weren’t supposed to turn their back to an enemy, but some bastard had come up behind her and tried to slice her open. she gave the shoulder not currently seating Parrot a cautious roll, and winced. That would be hurting for a while. But at least the way her shoulders had jerked back at the pain meant he’d missed her spine.

“I think at the next island we should invest in a cookbook.” Sairia said, setting Kyla’s bowl in the water-filled half of the sink.

“Yeah.” Kyla chuckled, lifting a hand to scratch Parrot behind his missing ear. “Ryan’s pretty shit at cooking.”

“Please.” Sairia huffed, and Kyla was pretty sure the medic rolled her eyes. “Compared to you, everyone’s shit at cooking.”

“Trust me.” Kyla shook her head, standing and grabbing her swords from their position leaning against the back of the couch. “I’m a swordsman, not a chef.”

“Don’t see why you can’t be both.” Sairia shrugged, running water into the other sink. “I’m effectively the doctor and the cannoneer, and I’m not half bad at either.”

“Yeah.” Kyla agreed, and decided against reminding Sairia that she’d never had to fire the cannon in battle. “But medicine takes studying and firing a cannon takes a certain natural talent. Cooking and fighting both take a bit of innate skill, and lots of training. I could be a swordsman and a doctor, or a cook and a cannoneer, but I can’t be a cook and a swordsman. You get me?”

“Not really, but whatever.” Sairia chuckled, shaking her head.

“So, are you really doing it?” she asked once her swords were settled on her hip where they belonged.

“Doing what?” Sairia frowned, turning away from the sink to look at her.

“Joining my crew, officially.”

“Well, I’m not leaving my brother, and he’s not going to leave you.” the brown skinned girl shrugged. “I’m not jumping ship anytime soon, so I might as well, you know?” she looked over at the door, away from Kyla, and the darker teen grinned.

“Alright.” she almost stretched, then remembered that would be a bad plan until at least the day after tomorrow. “Where’s Ryan? He’s supposed to be on dish duty with you.”

“He’s in the bunks.” Sairia rolled her eyes and turned back to the sink. “Probably being a weirdo with his swords again.”

“I’ll send him up to do his damn job.” Kyla chuckled, and paused with a hand on the doorknob as Parrot hopped off her shoulder, trotting over to jump up on the counter and watch her medic. _Her_ medic. A smile crept onto her face, and she left the room with her heart feeling lighter than it had since her birthday. She had two people on her crew now, one of whom was willing to fuck up an entire gang of bandits just for daring to hurt her. One medic, and two swordsmen. She still needed a shipwright to repair any inevitable damage, and a ranged fighter who could work independently of the cannons, but then she’d have a crew worthy of bringing this ship back to Paradise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sairia isn’t a trained doctor by any measure, but Chopper made sure the Dancer has a few books in its medical supplies, in case Kyla got seriously hurt before getting a medic on her crew. And with two idiot swordsmen around, Sairia is going to be getting really good at her job really fast.


	3. Tuuli

Kyla leaned forward, planting her right hand in front of her crossed legs and shading her eyes with the left. “Is that an island?” she muttered, squinting against the glare of the sun on the water. It sure looked like an island, but with only three people to run the Dancer none of them were up in the crow’s nest at the moment. In the month and a half since Sairia joined, they’d figured out it wasn’t really necessary except for a quick check once an hour or so. If they’d been flying a pirate flag they would’ve needed to be on the lookout for Marines, but 

She tilted her head, recently done twists swinging against her shoulders, then twisted to look over her shoulder. Sairia was fishing, and Ryan was scowling at a small book in his hands. Her swordsman had claimed to “have a way with numbers” less than a week out of Sint, and Kyla had agreed that he could handle the ship’s finances if he wanted. He was probably working on that right now, but Sairia was trying to catch something interesting for dinner so…

“Hey, Sairia.” she called, lowering her left arm to point ahead of them. “Think that looks like an island?”

Her medic stood up, balancing on the railing, and squinted towards the approaching horizon. “Yeah, it does.”

“An island?” Ryan looked up from whatever math he was doing, and grinned. “We don’t have to eat Sairia’s cooking tonight!”

Sairia turned and whipped the fishing line at her brother, managing to bonk him on the head with the bobber rather than catching the hook in his flesh. “I can cook just fine, thank you very much!”

“Not as well as Kyla.” Ryan laughed, dodging the rod when it was thrown at him like an unwieldy spear.

“I think taking a break from cooking and dishes would be good for all of us.” Kyla chuckled, turning fully around and sliding down off the figurehead. “But Ryan’s the treasurer, so it’s his call on whether or not we’ll have enough money to eat out after resupplying.”

“You do remember we’re _pirates_ , right?” Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Why not just loot the place?”

“We’ve only got three people, dipshit.” Sairia huffed, picking up the fishing rod and whapping her brother upside the head with it before starting to reel in the line. “And I’m no fighter, so it’d be you and the captain taking on an entire town.”

“We’re not raiding the village because they’ve done nothing to piss us off.” Kyla said, face scrunching in disbelief. “What is _wrong_ with you two?”

“He’s kinda mental.” Sairia shrugged.  
“She’s a sadist.” Ryan said cheerily.

“I am not!” Sairia huffed, smacking him with the fishing rod again. Kyla giggled, even as she was struck with a sharp pang of homesickness.

“Ryan, do we have enough money to get supplies and eat out?” she asked, running a thumb over the hilts of her swords. She’d put Hibiki in her first sword’s old spot, to avoid any more mishaps, but it was still a bit disorienting. She needed to get a new sword, and soon. If they had the cash, maybe she’d even be able to get one on the island they were approaching.

“Probably, yeah.” the blond shrugged. “But we’ll be pretty close to broke afterward.”

“Well, we’ll figure something out.” Kyla grinned looking over her shoulder at the approaching island. What little she could make out didn’t look like much, but Trident hadn’t looked like much either and look what had happened there.

\---

Kyla tucked her free hand in her pocket, and fought to keep her grin small. The harbormaster had entirely bought her story that they were merchants headed home after selling their wares, just in town for a day or two to resupply and get some shore leave. Admittedly it was only half a lie, but still, the deception was kinda fun. It was mid-week, just before lunch, and that meant there weren’t particularly many people out and about. Kyla adjusted her grip on the bag she’d agreed to carry. Sairia had thrown together some sandwiches, and with the weather so nice they had decided to find a park or something to eat in rather than the Dancer’s all-purpose room.

“Why did we leave Parrot on the ship, again?” Ryan huffed.

“Because most shops don’t let pets in.” Kyla answered with a roll of her eyes. It would’ve been nice to have her cat on her shoulder, she’d kinda gotten used to having him perched there most of the time, but if he wouldn’t be let in most places it was safer to just leave him on the Dancer.

“I see a park over there.” Sairia pointed, and Kyla smiled.

“Sweet, let’s find a picnic bench or something.”

They were halfway around the roughly square-ish plot of mud and grass when the wind suddenly picked up, and Sairia squeaked as she pushed the hem of her skirt back down. Ryan sniggered, and the medic gave Kyla an imploring look. “Could you? My hands are a bit full.”

Kyla snorted, and knocked Ryan on the back of the head with a loose fist. Then the wind gusted again, harder, and she scrambled for a better grip on the bag with their lunch in it. But the fabric handles slipped her grasp, and Sairia swore as their lunches scattered in the mud.

“I worked hard on those!”

Ryan turned around and chased after the bag, still blowing away. There was a soft sound, barely audible over the inexplicably howling wind, and Kyla turned to face down the path again. There was a girl there, Not much older than her, if she was older at all, with short dark hair which whipped around her thin face in the wind.

“Ah, shit tits.” the girl frowned, and the wind suddenly died down. “I’m sorry.” she smiled, a tense little thing which showed no teeth at all and was gone almost as soon as it had appeared.

“You’ve got a devil fruit.” Kyla said, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Wind wind?”

The girl shook her head, then lifted a hand to push her glasses up her nose. “I ate the Reppū-Reppū no Mi, the gale gale fruit.” she smiled wryly as Ryan came trotting back, muddy bag in hand. “It’s just a paramecia, but it’s a pain trying to control it. I’m sorry for ruining your lunch.”

“It’s nothing.” Kyla said quickly. “We were hoping to eat out tonight, but having lunch out wouldn’t be a hardship for us.” she smiled warmly. “Maybe you could show us a good place?” It was rarely a bad idea to ask a local about this sort of thing. They knew all the best places, since they lived there.

“I wouldn’t trust her, captain.” Ryan said icily and Kyla turned to see the blond had his arms crossed. The wind flared up, and mud flung itself at their shins before it dropped to no more than a stiff breeze again.

“I’ll pay for your lunch.” the islander girl said quickly. “There’s a great little cafe on the other side of the island which hasn’t banned me yet.”

“Banned?” Sairia asked, her tone skeptical.

“See, captain?” Ryan protested. “Even I never got banned from anywhere but bars, back in Shedo.”

“And that one whorehouse.” Sairia chuckled.

“Okay, that wasn’t my fault.” Ryan huffed, rounding on his sister.

“Don’t mind them.” Kyla told the islander girl, waving her hand dismissively before holding it out. “I’m Ren Kyla.”

“Ranta Tuuli.” the bespectacled girl replied with a smile and a nice firm handshake. Her palms were soft and smooth, the hands of someone unaccustomed to manual labour. “The Blackwater Bistro’s this way.” she stepped lightly around Ryan and Sairia, who were still arguing over whether or not Ryan’s apparent ban from entering a brothel counted if he didn’t start the fight which caused it. Kyla tapped both of them, and nodded after Tuuli.

“She’s taking us to a place called the Blackwater Bistro. And Ryan, if you act like a shithead during lunch, you’re paying for your own food.”

“Fair.” Sairia nodded once, and Kyla hurried to catch up with their local guide. She’d figure out what Ryan’s problem was later, out of Tuuli’s earshot.

“So.” Kyla tucked both her hands in her pants pockets as she strolled along next to the pale islander. “You graduated or just not enrolled?”

Tuuli frowned slightly, and kept her greenish brown eyes fixed on the road ahead. “Homeschooled, actually. At least until I can learn to keep my powers under control.”

“Oh, yeah.” Kyla’s gaze flicked to the corners of the next cross street, automatically scanning for potential threats. Nothing but a middle aged couple and their young children. “How long have you had them?”

“Oh, just a few months.” she grimaced. “It’s alright, except for the part where I got kicked out of my dorm. That pretty much sucks major ass.”

Kyla almost winced. If Tuuli had a dorm room, then that meant she was a ward of the Marines, and the young captain knew first hand how shitty that was. They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, Tuuli pointing out the occasional interesting sight and Ryan grumbling under his breath each time she did so. As they got nearer the other shore however, where the docks and therefore the streets were slightly busier, Tuuli ducked her head and grew quiet. The breeze, which Kyla had stopped noticing at some point during their walk, suddenly fell to almost nothing.

“What’re you doing here?” someone snapped from the door of a butcher’s shop.

“Just showing some travellers where to find a good meal.” Tuuli answered, and even so soon after meeting Kyla could hear that the taller girl’s voice was strained and the brightness in it was painfully fake. Perhaps Tuuli would be a good addition to her crew, then. Someone who could bend the wind to her will would be an invaluable asset, and a girl with no family who was reviled by those of her home island should be easy enough to recruit.

They were seated at the little hole-in-the-wall eatery without much fuss, and their orders were taken quickly. The server resolutely ignored Tuuli, though, and Kyla wondered how rude it would be to try convincing basically a total stranger not to bother leaving a tip. Probably pretty rude, but then again, they _were_ pirates.

“So, he called you captain.” Tuuli tilted her head briefly towards Ryan, but kept her gaze fixed on Kyla. “And you’re too young to be doing anything properly legal.” her eyes narrowed slightly behind wire-framed lenses, and Kyla felt Ryan tense at her side. “Bounty hunters, or their prey?”

Across from her brother, Sairia did a fairly shitty job of acting like nothing was wrong. Kyla kicked her in the shin. “I prefer the term bounty heads, though I’m the only one in my crew.”

“You’ve got a bounty?” Sairia asked, shifting in her seat and probably rubbing her leg with her other foot. Oh, right, they didn’t know about that. Shit, she had to play this off so they wouldn’t question how she got it.

“It’s only a million.” Kyla waved her hand dismissively. “That’s, like, bare minimum.”

“It kinda is, yeah.” Ryan nodded. Kyla suddenly remembered he’d sorta been a bounty hunter before they met. But he’d put that aside to join her fledgeling pirate crew, and at that thought a wholly inappropriate grin threatened to spread across her face. Even after having them onboard for months, it still made her a bit giddy to remember that she had a crew of her own. So maybe there were only two of them, and maybe they weren’t _hers_ yet the way she’d been Luffy’s growing up, but they both deferred to her and called her captain without hesitation.

“So, what’s a trio of lawless sailors like you doing on an island like this?” Tuuli asked, folding her arms on the table and glancing at each of them, her eyes flicking from Kyla to Ryan to Sairia before settling back on Kyla.

“Passing through.” Sairia said quickly.  
“Shore leave.” Ryan answered at the same time.  
“Resupplying.” Kyla responded.

Tuuli raised an eyebrow, her face the very picture of skepticism. “Riiight.”

“Well, guess that shows our priorities.” Kyla said quickly, following up with a forced chuckle and a hopefully sheepish expression. “We’re just wandering at the moment, and docked here to resupply and stretch our legs.”

Tuuli eyed them skeptically for a moment, then smiled and leaned back in her seat. “Well, so long as you don’t cause trouble, I won’t tell anyone.”

Ryan grumbled something under his breath which was probably really rude, given the tone, and Kyla elbowed him in the side. “Thanks for that, Tuuli.” she said lightly. “So, what are Marine schools teaching these days? I only went for a year, for obvious reasons.”

Tuuli shrugged. “Probably the same as what our government funded school teaches. I haven’t been able to do much studying this year, though.” the wind gusted, as if to prove her point, and Sairia patted her on the shoulder.

“I haven’t heard much good stuff about the curriculum at Marine or government schools.” the round-faced medic said kindly. “You’ve dodged a bullet.”

Tuuli scoffed. “Maybe if I was planning to be a pirate.” she crossed her arms. “I plan to be a Marine navigator, and having a diploma is the surest way to get myself there.”

“A future Marine, consorting with pirates?” Ryan sneered, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

“You’re a navigator?” Kyla asked quickly, interrupting him. They hadn’t even gotten their food yet, and he was picking a fight. She’d have to talk to him about that later, but right now her focus was reserved for the girl who sneered the word Marines even as she proclaimed a desire to become one.

“Yeah.” Tuuli nodded, narrowing her eyes slightly at Ryan before returning her gaze to Kyla. “I’ve been studying navigation more or less since I learnt how to read.”

“But why the Marines?” Kyla tilted her head. Depending on the answer, she might still be able to recruit this girl. A navigator would be pretty sweet to have, and she’d definitely need one before they could tackle Paradise.

“My powers.” Tuuli said, and shrugged.

“Food’s here.” Sairia said, interrupting whatever the pale, thin girl was about to say.

The waitress smiled at Kyla and Ryan and Sairia as she set their plates down, but the expression fell flat when she picked up Tuuli’s grilled sandwich. That plate was set down with a clatter, and Kyla scowled after the girl as she brought her tray back to the kitchen. “She doesn’t deserve a tip.” she muttered, picking up her glass.

“Why?” Tuuli frowned, picking up her sandwich.

“Yeah, why?” Ryan asked, mouth half full of his meatball sub. “Food’s not bad, and she’s been as nice as can be expected.”

Kyla kicked him under the table. “She’s been rude as shit to Tuuli!”

“I said as nice as can be expected, didn’t I?”

Kyla cuffed him on the back of the head with her free hand. “You’re buying your own sandwich, shithead.”

“What’d I do?”

Sairia sighed heavily and set down her BLT. “Ryan, just shut up.”

“Anyway.” Kyla picked up her egg salad sandwich and looked at Tuuli. “You were talking about why you wanted to join the Marines?”

“Well, it’s mostly my powers.” the islander held out one hand and a small whirlwind formed in her palm. “I can do some neat things, but I’m a navigator not a fighter, and in the Marines I could learn how to control my powers so I can do my job right.”

“Are you good at it?” Kyla asked, smiling as she took a bite of her sandwich. Way too much mayo and relish, but that was better than too much mustard. “Navigating, I mean.”

“Well, not yet.” Tuuli closed her hand, the vortex dissipating into a burst of cool air. “I need to graduate first, and then I can get proper training, but I’ve been reading books on the topic basically my whole life so.” she shrugged and took a bite of her sandwich.

Kyla struggled to keep her smile small. A navigator. This girl was almost too perfect to be real. She had no family, she wasn’t liked by the locals, she had an amazing devil fruit power, wanted to join the Marines out of convenience rather than a sense of Justice, _and_ she was a navigator? Tuuli would be hers, no doubt about it. Well, unless Ryan scared her off. She’d have to talk to her swordsman about that.

“Join my crew instead.” she blurted as soon as she’d swallowed her mouthful of food.

“What?” Tuuli and Ryan said at the same time, Tuuli confused and Ryan disbelieving. Kyla felt Sairia kick Ryan under the table.

“Join my crew.” Kyla repeated with a smile. “We need a navigator, and you want to get out of here. Win-win.”

“Captain, she’s a fruit user!” Ryan complained. “And she can’t even control it!”

Sairia kicked Ryan again.

“I’m not going to be a pirate.” Tuuli frowned, setting down her sandwich. “Let alone part of some little no-name crew.”

“Jubilee.” Kyla said quickly, blurting the first random word that popped into her head. “I’ve been thinking of calling our crew the Jubilees.”

“Really?” Sairia frowned.

“The answer’s still no.” Tuuli shook her head and picked her sandwich back up. “Your entire crew is three people, including the captain. I’m not messing with that.”

Kyla frowned, and looked down at her sandwich. Shit, she’d really had her hopes set on getting this girl on her crew. And now that she knew Tuuli was a navigator, she’d wanted the islander to join even more. But she couldn’t just say ‘nope, you’re on my crew now’ and expect this girl she’d only just met to agree with her. She wasn’t _Luffy_.

“That’s fair.” she said, keeping her voice carefully neutral. The conversation lulled for the remainder of lunch, sandwiches devoured and bill paid. Ryan put down the beri for his own sandwich and drink, and even left a tip, though Tuuli gave him the stink eye when he did.

“Thanks for lunch.” Sairia said as they left the bistro, the muddy bag which had held their sandwiches hanging limp in her hand.

“It was the least I could do.” the islander smiled demurely, brushing a lock of hair behind one leg of her glasses. It promptly blew back across her forehead, and Kyla realized that the wispy strands weren’t black but a deep, saturated blue.

“We’re headed back to our ship to get the shopping cart. Wanna tag along?” Kyla asked, hooking her thumbs in her pockets. “I was thinking of taking the scenic route, since we won’t be here long after resupplying.”

Sairia gave her a skeptical look, and Kyla grinned back. Maybe if Tuuli hung around them a bit more, she’d agree to join the crew. Provided Ryan kept his mouth shut, of course.


	4. Cutlass Serpents

Tuuli spread her arms and turned her feet sideways, toes pointed out as she walked along the trunk of a fallen tree. She didn’t usually come around the west side of the island, since the school and her home were both closer to the eastern shore, but the terrain wasn’t much different over here. It was a bit weird to have the waves crashing on her left, and she didn’t have any little landmarks like she had on the other side, but it was still the island she’d grown up on. Still home.

“So they get swallowed, right?” Kyla said, gesturing with her shiny pale hands. “And everyone’s freaking out, and my sister is asking the captain what to do, so my brother just yells that they have to keep going straight, no matter what.”

“They were already swallowed, though?” Tuuli frowned. This story made absolutely no sense.

Kyla laughed. “That’s what my sister said. Or maybe her girlfriend, I can’t remember, but anyway they’re falling down this thing’s throat and then BAM, there’s light again. The giants punched a hole through the fucker and missed my family’s ship completely. If they’d tried to adjust course, they would’ve been blasted to bits.”

“That sounds fake, but okay.” Tuuli chuckled. “And you weren’t even there?”

“Hadn’t been adopted yet.” Kyla shrugged. “If you don’t believe that, though, you wouldn’t believe any of the best stories from after I was adopted.”

“Probably not.” Tuuli grinned despite herself. It was nice, being able to walk and talk with someone who wasn’t complaining about her personal storm. She’d been easing up on the winds’ reins, and even though the treetops were starting to creak the pirate girls didn’t seem to be at all bothered by it. Kyla had tied her odd two-strand braids back into a thick ponytail, and Sairia’s pigtails were heavy and tight enough that she hadn’t gotten smacked across the face yet. Ryan’s straw-coloured mop was flying about, but Tuuli had started tuning him out before they even left town. He seemed to have some grudge against devil fruit users in general, and she wasn’t about to let one sour grape ruin her first nice day in months.

“So, Sairia.” she looked over her shoulder at where Kyla’s two crewmen were following a few paces back. “You got any cool stories?”

“Does saving my idiot captain from her own stupidity count?”

Kyla groaned and turned around, walking backward. “I don’t get stupid in a fight!” she protested in the tone of someone who’s repeated herself multiple times.

Sairia laughed, an ehuhuhu sound that Tuuli imagined would look like bubble letters if she drew it. Kyla huffed, and turned back around to face forward. Out of the corner of her eye, Tuuli saw the pirate run her thumb over the hilt of her longer sword. She looked past Kyla, out over the sea, and a sharp breeze promptly sent her staggering forwards. She hit the ground on her hands and knees, and turned as she scrambled back up. Gripping her glasses in one hand, she shaded her eyes and looked towards the horizon.

“No.” she muttered as she made out the approaching shape of a familiar ship. “Not now.”

“Something wrong with the airhead?” Ryan asked, and Tuuli turned quickly to face the young captain.

“You have to leave, now.” she slid her glasses back on her face, reducing the ship to an indistinct blob again, and forced her winds to calm as much as she could without using all her attention.

“What?” Kyla frowned. “We haven’t even resupplied.”

“There’s an island three days east of here.” Tuuli said, looking back out to sea. “Go there and you can resupply without a problem.”

“What’s wrong?” Kyla’s frown deepened, and she scanned the horizon as well. She obviously spotted the ship, and tilted her head slightly. “Marines?”

“Pirates.” Tuuli nearly snarled. “The Cutlass Serpents. They’re early this month.”

Kyla made a sound which was almost an “ah” of understanding, but Tuuli couldn’t dwell on that because Sairia was speaking. “This isn’t the first time they’re raided your village?”

Tuuli started towards the north shore again, forcing the young pirates to follow her if they wanted any sort of answers. “They usually swing by every three or four months, take whatever the hell they please, and wreck the rest.”

“If they come back so regularly, why doesn’t anybody call the Marines?” Sairia asked, breathing slightly heavily as she kept pace. “Isn’t it their job to protect islands like this from pirates?”

Tuuli slowed, and the wind whipped angrily at her hair and clothes. “We don’t like Marines here.” she spat, curling her hands into fists.

“How come?” Kyla asked, her ponytail of weird braids stirring as the wind whipped through it.

“This is Baterilla.” she said simply, picking up the pace again. She’d heard the story a hundred times, but had never needed to tell it herself, and she didn’t want her first recounting to be for a couple of amateur pirates.

“Yeah?” Kyla was keeping up easily, her right hand resting on the shorter of her two swords. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Well, looked like she didn’t have much of a choice. “It means, Marines killed almost every woman on this island thirty four years ago, along with most of the babies.” she spat. “And they didn’t even get the ones they were aiming for.” one of her knuckles made a popping sound as she clenched her fists tighter. It always made her angry to think about the aunt and grandmother she could’ve had, if not for the Marines and the former Pirate King.

Kyla scowled at that, and thankfully no more words were exchanged until they came to a stop at the docks on the north end of the island. Tuuli calmed her winds as much as she was able, and took a deep breath. The sun was nearing the horizon, and she had to block it with her hand to make out the ship of the Cutlass Serpents. They’d gotten closer, close enough for her to make out even without the aid of her farsighted eyes. At this rate the bastards would be here by morning. Their ship was already swinging south to dock on that side of the island.

“How about we make a deal?”

Tuuli turned to Kyla and crossed her arms. “What do you mean?”

Kyla grinned like she’d just had the world’s best idea. “You need to get out of here to get good at navigating and your windy powers, right? But you don’t like the Marines.”

“Yes?”

“You also need someone to take care of those pesky pirates that keep fucking up your island, right?” Kyla prodded. Now the pirate medic was grinning too, small and absurdly hopeful.

“Yeah.” Tuuli frowned. Where was the pirate going with this? She’d already declined one invitation to join this little no-name crew.

“My crew and I can keep the Cutlass Serpents from attacking Baterilla, but only if you agree to join us.”

Tuuli had to blink a few times, and turned the words over in her head to make sure she’d heard them right. “Me, join you?” she frowned. “I already said no. And how the hell do I know you’ll make good on your promise?”

Kyla’s expression turned serious, the scar on her face making her look like a real adult. “I may be a pirate, but I’m also a swordsman.” she laid her pale, scarred right hand on the hilts of her swords, voice level. “I keep my promises.” her dark eyes bored into Tuuli’s with such intensity that the paler girl had to look away. “And I’ll make one to you, but only if you agree to join my crew.” Kyla lifted her hand from her swords, and held it out to Tuuli. “Do we have a deal?”

Tuuli hesitated, glancing at Kyla’s crew where they’d flanked her. Ryan just behind his captain’s right side, his face disapproving. Sairia a bit further back on Kyla’s left, still wearing that tiny hopeful smile, hands clasped demurely in front of her ratty striped purple skirt. They were a small crew, two fighters and a medic, but the captain had a confidence about her that Tuuli had never seen before, not even in the swaggering Marine officers who came for the miserable failures of recruitment days.

“Deal.” she clasped Kyla’s burnt hand firmly, and a tongue of cool air spiralled down her arm before tracing up the dark pirate’s. These pirates were different from the Cutlass Serpents, and Tuuli would’ve been willing to bet all of her meagre savings that they were cut from a kinder cloth than the average Marine.

\---

Kyla leaned back against the railing of the Steel Viper and wiped blood from Sengo’s blade with the remnants of a shirt. The fight had almost been disappointingly easy, if she was honest. She’d thought that a crew strong enough to repeatedly raid the birthplace of Fire Fist Ace would at least put up a decent fight. Ryan finished tying the survivors to the mast, and Kyla sheathed her first meito.

“What’s your problem with Tuuli?” she asked bluntly, dropping the now hopelessly bloody scrap of cloth. Ryan’s face pulled into a scowl for a second, and he leaned over the railing facing out towards the island.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No.” Kyla shook her head. “You’ve been rude to her all day for no damn reason.”

“She’s a fruit user!” Ryan exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

“And?” Kyla frowned. If Ryan held a grudge against all fruit users because of some asshole from Sint, she’d love to see the look on his face when he met her family. 

“Everyone knows that you have to sell your soul to get a devil fruit power.” he said, his tone that of someone explaining an obvious fact to a small child. Kyla was pretty sure her mouth fell open.

“What?”

“They’re called _devil_ fruits for a reason.” Ryan huffed. “Eating one is how you make a contract with the demon of the sea. You give him your soul and he gives you freaky, inhuman powers. That’s why the sea gods don’t let fruit users swim.”

Kyla stared at the first member of her crew for a long minute. He- he honestly thought that devil fruit users had no soul? That was the dumbest superstition she’d ever heard surrounding the fruits, and she’d heard some weird shit. Like that certain fruits could turn you into a literal god, or ingesting seastone could stop your fruit from regenerating. Actually, that second one wasn’t so much superstition as unproven theory, but it came from old myths so it still basically counted.

“You’re being a dick to Tuuli, because you think she doesn’t have a soul?” she asked, turning to cast her eyes over the sea. Sairia was a strong rower, and with a good tailwind she should be approaching with Tuuli any minute now.

“It’s not like she can actually be, like, offended. You need a soul for that.”

Kyla muffled a groan as she dropped her head into her hands. She’d recruited a superstitious idiot, and as much fun as it would be to not tell him off or anything until they met her family again in the New World, she couldn’t let him potentially drive off their new navigator with his attitude. Tuuli had only agreed to join them, not to stay on for any length of time, so she had to make their navigator _want_ to be part of the crew.

“Ryan.” she looked up from her hands and met his eyes. “That is the dumbest bullshit I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s not bull.” he said defensively.

“Yes, it is.” Kyla crossed her arms over her chest. “Half my goddamn family has devil fruits, and if you keep on implying that my captain, aunt, gramps, _and_ family doctor have no souls, I’m gonna have to cut you.” she lowered her left hand to sit on Sengo’s hilt, and fixed Ryan with a glare. “Sengo would love a chance to taste your blood, I’m sure.”

He balked, face visibly paling, and Kyla only barely didn’t laugh. After years of being dismissed as too small to be a threat, there was something really gratifying when people were actually scared of her. But if she laughed he’d never take her threats seriously again, and this was important, so she kept her angry face on.

“Fine.” Ryan looked off to the side, eyes swinging across the expanse of sea between them and Baterilla. “I’ll ease up on Tuuli. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna like her or anything. She still made a deal with the devil, and she can’t even control the powers he granted her.”

Kyla rolled her eyes, but decided not to push on the whole deal-with-the-devil thing. “She’ll get better the more she uses them.” she said instead. “And hey, better to have her on our side than let her join the Marines.”

“Can’t argue with that, captain.” Ryan grinned, and Kyla leaned on the railing a bit more, looking back out over the waves. The wind was blowing right in her face, providing a tailwind for the little rowboat Sairia was manning. They had a navigator now, and that thought made Kyla smile. A navigator, two swordsmen, and a medic. If Tuuli was good enough, they might not even need to find a shipwright before they hit Paradise.

\---

“Next time, Kyla can do all that goddamn rowing.” Sairia huffed, rubbing the heel of her hand with the opposite thumb.

“Sure, and you can do all the fighting.” Ryan chuckled, gesturing to what remained of the Cutlass Serpents.

His sister’s eyes widened, gaze flicking over him instead of following the sweep of his hand, and Ryan ran a thumb over Baila’s guard, smudging away some blood. Right, he was kinda a mess. “It’s not my blood, honest.” he grinned. “I’m only a little banged up.”

Sairia grabbed his left ear and tugged sharply. “I’ll be the judge of that.” she let go, and Ryan rubbed his ear as she turned towards the captain. “When we’re back to the Dancer, you’re both going straight to the infirmary.”

Kyla whined, and Ryan chuckled. He could’ve done a lot worse in the family department. “Sure thing, Sai.”

“So, Tuuli.” Kyla grinned, and Ryan scowled. “Whattaya think?” she gestured to the bundle of pirates tied to the mast, and a bit to the handful of corpses scattered on deck. The fruit user’s eyes widened, and she pressed a hand to her mouth as the wind grew more agitated.

“You two did this on your own?” she asked, eyes flicking first to Kyla and then to Ryan. He stuck out his tongue at her.

“Duh. Captain said we would, didn’t she?”

“Ryan.” Kyla said, her tone remarkably similar to the one Sairia used when she was telling him to stay in bed after being stitched up.

“What?” he huffed, crossing his arms.

“That’s just how he is with devil fruit users, captain.” Sairia smiled.

Kyla sighed and shook her head. “Tuuli, you can get us pointed back towards Baterilla, right?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, _captain_.” Ryan said with a smirk. Kyla and Sairia rolled their eyes.

“Ryan, Sairia, you two help her. I’ll go find and bag their loot.” she turned and vanished into the ship before Ryan could protest, so he just scuffed the heel of his boot against the deck.

“You heard the girl.” Tuuli smiled, her hair floating around her face thanks to the obnoxious as hell wind. “Ryan, you man the rudder. Sairia, help me with the sails.”

“Ugh, make Ryan do the sails.” Sairia whined. “My hands hurt too much.”

“You sure you’re strong enough to take the helm?” Tuuli frowned.

“My sister’s strong enough to row your fat ass out here, isn’t she?” Ryan snapped, crossing his arms. “And she roughed up her hands doing it, so I’ll help with the sails.”

Tuuli tilted her head, and even through glasses her unnaturally bright green-brown eyes bored into his blue ones like she was examining him. He bristled, and she looked away with a dismissive noise. “Fine. Helm’s up in front.”

It didn’t even take ten minutes to get the ship pointed the right direction, and once everything was tied off he retreated to the rear railing. Just because Sairia didn’t believe in souls or, by extension, soulless-ness, didn’t mean he had to interact with the devil fruit user any more than necessary.

\---

“So, is that really just how he acts?” Tuuli frowned, looking towards the stern of the Steel Viper.

“Towards devil fruit users, yeah.” Sairia sighed, rubbing at one palm with her other thumb. “It’s one of his many flaws.”

Tuuli chuckled, and crossed her arms over her stomach. “What a weirdo.”

Sairia grinned, and punched her in the shoulder. “Says the windy girl.”

Tuuli rolled her eyes and looked up at the stars, resting her elbows on the railing as she leaned back slightly. “You’re all weirdos.”

“Yeah, we are.” Sairia leaned on the railing next to her. “And so are you. You fit in already.”

Tuuli shook her head a little and looked down at the deck, strewn with the evidence of how insanely strong and skilled the swordsmen of this little crew were. “You sound so certain.”

“Well, yeah.” Sairia slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a one-armed hug. “You hate Marines, and the captain thinks you’re cool.” the fat brown girl beamed, her face practically glowing. “Hell, I bet Ryan’ll even warm up to you eventually.”

“He better.” there was a thud, and Tuuli looked up to see Kyla setting down four large burlap bags. “Dancer’s not big enough for us to have nakama who don’t get along.”

“Nakama?” Sairia frowned, like she didn’t know what the word meant. But that was stupid, everyone knew what nakama were.

“Another word for crew.” the captain said quickly, waving her right hand in a dismissive motion. “Anyway, this is all the loot I could find.” she kicked one of the bags, and it jingled. “We’ll each take a bag, and leave the Cutlass Serpents tied up onboard for the islanders to deal with when they wake up.”

“I think that’s the best plan I’ve heard you come up with yet.” Sairia grinned, and Kyla cuffed her upside the head with an affectionate smile. Sairia laughed, and Kyla gave one of the shorter girl’s pigtails a tug.

“Show your captain some respect.” she chided, still smiling. Tuuli ducked her head, her winds warming ever so slightly.

“Is that treasure?” Ryan asked, and Tuuli flicked a wind towards him to flip his hair out of his face.

“Yep.” she said, going back to leaning against the railing. The blond swordsman vaulted down from the upper rear level to the lower main deck and walked right past her without so much as an acknowledgement. Tuuli resolutely looked the other way, to where Kyla was showing Sairia a gaudy-as-hell bracelet. She hadn’t fantasized about having _nakama_ since she was a little kid, and here she was with a tiny little crew whose bonds were tighter than those she’d seen on any merchant or Marine ship. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be a pirate, if she got to be part of a crew like this. Better than being a Marine, at any rate.

\---

Kyla laughed as Sairia draped a third necklace around her neck, the chunky braided gold chain dangling down to her medic’s navel.

“Holy hell, look at this!” Ryan reached into the bag she’d opened, the one mostly full of gold shit they’d need to get appraised sooner than later, and pulled out a crown. An honest-to-the-gods crown, set with chips of blue and green stone in a pattern of waves.

“Son of a whore.” Tuuli muttered, grabbing it and turning the- hat? ornament? it was a fucking _crown_ \- in her hands. “This is old. Like, fairy tale old.”

“Dibs.” Ryan grabbed it back, and set the crown on his head at an angle. “How do I look?” he grinned, tilting his head and almost sending the damn thing rolling across the deck.

“Ridiculous.” Kyla laughed, reaching across the bag to snatch it from his head and seat the golden headgear atop her twists. “I saw it first, and I’m captain, so it’s mine.” she grinned, then pulled it off and dropped it back in the bag. It didn’t feel right to wear a crown, not when Luffy had worn a pin shaped like one on his hat for most of her life. “We should get everything put back away before we-”

There was a tremendous sound of breaking wood, and Kyla yelped as she was thrown on her back. The rest of her crew went down as well, Sairia with a loud jangle, and the open bag of treasure spilled a good amount of its contents on the deck. There was more crashing and snapping, and Kyla’s mouth fell open as her eyes picked out _yard arms_ hanging in the rigging. And then the main mast snapped like a shitty little twig, bending backwards halfway up with a spray of splinters as it caught in another ship’s rigging.

“I’m suddenly very glad we left our ship on the other side of the island.” Sairia muttered, and Kyla rolled to her knees to scoop at least most of the spilled treasure back in the bag.

“We must’ve been picking up speed.” Tuuli groaned as she got to her feet. “My bad.”

“Damn right it’s your bad, cloud for brains!” Ryan snapped, dumping the last handful of coins back in the bag.

“Dancer’s okay, she’s at the other dock.” Kyla said, cutting off any retort of Tuuli’s as she tied the bag’s neck shut again and hefted it over one shoulder. “We’re running for it.”

Sairia groaned, understandable since she wasn’t much of a sprinter, and Kyla picked up the lightest of the bags to hold out to Tuuli, who was too soft and thin to be able to carry either of the other ones. “Ready for your first act of piracy?” she grinned at the pale, bespectacled islander.

Tuuli grinned right back, a smile wide enough it wouldn’t have looked out of place among her family, and took the bundle of treasure in both arms. “Absolutely, captain.”

-

The cry went up before they were two blocks from the pier, and Kyla couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as villagers began to pile into the street, yelling at the “damn pirates” who had wrecked their ships. A laugh bubbled out of her, and she ducked as a rock whistled through the air well over her head. Ryan punched her in the shoulder, and she stifled the sound but couldn’t force her smile to diminish.

A barrage of rocks, tools, and even a few potted plants rained down around them seconds later, and one clipped Tuuli on the shoulder. Kyla reached for her first sword to send a _Kiritsukeru_ back at their pursuers, and her hand landed on Hibiki’s hilt instead. She hesitated for a split second before drawing the tachi, and in that split second Tuuli spun with the force of the impact on her shoulder. Suddenly the blue haired girl was facing the mob, teetering backwards on one heel, but behind the lenses of her glasses Tuuli’s hazel eyes were sharp and focused. She lifted her right hand with an elegant flick of the wrist, her mouth finishing the formation an unfamiliar word even as she levelled her palm at the angry villagers, fingers splayed wide.

“ _Pölypyörre_!” a blast of wind erupted from her palm at the end of the final syllable, picking up dust which beautifully illustrated the vortex as it howled down the street. Kyla actually tripped over a loosely set paving stone as every single shop window behind them erupted in a shower of tinkling glass, and fully half the villagers were thrown back off their feet.

“Fucking hell!” Ryan yelped as Tuuli completed the rotation on her heel, no longer teetering but instead throwing that momentum into her headlong sprint. Kyla laughed again, and picked up her pace a bit. Her navigator ran like the wind, hair whipping out in a dark blue halo around her head, but she didn’t outpace them for more than a few seconds before dropping back to run at Sairia’s side.

Oh yeah, definitely someone she was proud to have on her crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the wiki, Ace really was born in South Blue. And the Marines really did kill a lot of women and children in their search for Rogue and Ace. Somehow I doubt they ever apologized, even though they completely missed both Gol’s lover and his (then unborn) son. _Pölypyörre_ is Finnish for ‘dust devil’, and oh my god i am already so in love with Tuuli. Like, I love all my children dearly, but Tuuli is extra fun to write because she’s effortlessly badass but all she wants is to just be normal? I’ve got _plans_ for this girl. Plans which, surprisingly, don’t involve breaking her. Much.


	5. Jubilees

“So, do you have any idea what you’re going to name your crew?” Tuuli asked.

Kyla shrugged without looking up. She’d missed some blood splatter on Sengo’s saya after their last fight, and it was stubbornly not coming out of the lacquered wood “Hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Really?” Sairia said skeptically. Kyla looked up and stuck her tongue out at her medic.

“I was more focused on, y’know, getting a crew.” she looked back down at her work and frowned. She’d have to swipe some of the hydrogen peroxide, that was the only way this was coming out.

“Well, since our dear captain doesn’t have a clue, how about the Jubilee Pirates?”

Kyla looked up, and found Tuuli grinning at her. “Where did you get _that_?” she asked, her face pulling into a confused frown.

Sairia, the traitor, laughed at that.

“What?” Kyla huffed, setting Sengo’s saya down and crossing her arms. “It’s a valid question.”

“Captain, you suggested it a few days ago.” Tuuli grinned wider.

“I did?” Kyla frowned, thinking back over the days since they’d recruited their navigator. “When?”

“In that little sandwich place on Baterilla.” Sairia replied, lowering the vest she was struggling to stitch back together. “You said you’d been thinking of calling us the Jubilees, remember?”

“Oh.” Kyla pursed her lips for a moment. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Tuuli and Sairia chorused.

“Right.” Kyla nodded slowly. “Tuuli was being squirrelly about joining a crew without a name, so I made that up on the spot.” she shrugged. “If you think it sounds cool then yeah, let’s go with it.” she grinned, getting to her feet and sliding Sengo and Hibiki into place on her hip. “We’ll need a flag, too.”

“I hope you’re not pulling that one out of your ass.” Tuuli chuckled.

“I’ve actually got some sketches I did when I was a kid.” Kyla stretched, starting towards the door to her bedroom. She’d kinda gotten used to having her own ship, and she was starting to get used to having her own crew, but having her own bedroom was still weird after a lifetime of sharing.

A quick search turned up the old sketch, done on the back of one of Zoro’s old bounties, and Kyla held it firmly as she stepped back out onto the deck. Tuuli’s wind was far less noticeable at sea, when most of her power was focused on filling the sails, but there was still the possibility of a stray gust blowing her old design out of hand and out over the waves.

“Holy shit, how old is that?” Tuuli asked as soon as she saw it.

“I don’t even remember.” Kyla shook her head. “The poster’s at least ten years old, though.”

“God damn.” Tuuli carefully took the age-softened paper and examined the drawing. “You’re a crap artist.”

“I’m a swordsman, not an artist.” Kyla rolled her eyes. “Think you could redraw it and make it suck less?”

Tuuli tilted her head, a curl of wind making her hair dance out like a halo without disturbing the paper or Sairia’s mending. “I can do it, but would you mind if I changed where the swords go?” she turned the paper around, and traced her fingers over the drawing. “It’d look less childish if they all underneath, instead of two under and one through.”

Kyla opened her mouth to argue, to say that it was an accurate representation of her fighting style, but then remembered Tuuli had never actually seen her with three swords. She still needed a new one. “Yeah, sure, just keep the bangs.”

“Will do.”

\---

An hour and a half later, Tuuli sat back on her heels and pushed her glasses back up on her face, being careful not to transfer any paint from her fingertips to her lenses. It had taken a ridiculous amount of staking down to get the damn fabric to stay still, but finally she was done. This was the flag she’d be sailing under for, well, probably the rest of her life, and she was actually pretty damn proud of it. The skull was kinda cartoony, yeah, but the hair and swords were perfectly detailed. Sengo’s hilt wrappings were the exact colour of dried blood, Hibiki’s a deep lovely green, and she’d left the final hilt white so she could fill it in once Kyla found a third sword.

“Ooh, it looks awesome!” Kyla exclaimed right behind her. Tuuli jumped, and had to scramble to keep her winds from knocking a paint can over onto the freshly painted flag.

“Fucking hell, Kyla, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Ryan muttered something Tuuli couldn’t make out, but his tone made it clear he was insulting her. She frowned, and pointed her paint-tipped detail brush at him. “You either, musclehead.”

“Musclehead?” Ryan gasped, pressing a hand to his chest with the most blatantly fake ‘scandalized’ expression Tuuli had ever seen.

“Yeah, musclehead.” Tuuli grinned, wind tugging at the hem of her shirt as she stood up to face him. “That’s what you are, isn’t it? Can’t cook, can’t navigate, can’t even patch up your own clothes after a fight.” she smirked and crossed her arms, holding the detail brush between her fingers so its bristles didn’t touch anything but air. “All you’re good for is your muscles, musclehead.” she flicked her wrist, and a narrow tongue of wind sent a few drops of rich green paint flying towards his cheek.

Ryan drew one of his swords to block the droplets, then made a sound of inarticulate rage when he realized what had just splattered on his precious blade.

“Oh, sorry.” Tuuli grinned, letting the brush fall onto the edge of the grass. “Guess you’ll just have to clean that one again.”

Ryan made another, angrier sound, and Tuuli laughed. It was just so _fun_ to watch him get riled up over such stupid things. He swung, steel whistling through the air, and she brought up her hand in the traditional finger gun position. “ _Luftgevär_!” she yelled, and a bolt of air blasted from her fingertip. It struck him right between his ribs, and he staggered just hard enough to let her dodge.

“Alright, alright.” Kyla laughed, as if two members of her crew hadn’t just attacked each other. “Let’s get the flag flying and the sail painted before you two start sparring.”

“She started it!” Ryan exclaimed, pointing his paint-splattered sword at her.

“Did I?” Tuuli grinned, and sure she probably didn’t look ashamed in the least but Kyla only laughed harder.

“Ryan, help me lower the mainsail so Tuuli can paint it.” she said firmly. “Otherwise the colours won’t be the same on both.”

“I’ll mix up more while you’re doing that.” Tuuli said, pulling the appropriate cans closer.

“Ryan, c’mon.”

The swordsman didn’t move, glaring at Tuuli with a mildly surprising amount of venom, but after a long few seconds he turned to the captain and nodded stiffly. Tuuli’s grin softened into a small smile, and she opened up the brown red yellow and blue paints to start mixing again. This was going to be a _very_ fun ship to sail on.

\---

There weren’t many things Sairia enjoyed about the newspaper. Ryan had always called it a needless expense, and the information within was so rarely good news. But a week away from anywhere, the newspaper was the best source of information they had, so when the News Coo landed on the Dancer’s starboard railing Sairia grabbed a few beri from Ryan to pay it. Perching herself on the stairs which lead up to the AP room and rear deck, Sairia unfolded her purchase. The front page featured a large picture of a ruined city block with a deep hole in the middle, but that was par for the course considering the headline which basically boiled down to “Pirate King and his crew have wrecked more shit.” Sairia pulled the paper open to the South Blue section, and two sheets of paper fell out. Not newsprint but a sturdier, off-white paper.

“Ooh, bounty posters!” Ryan grinned, snatching them up off the deck. Sairia looked up from the paper as her brother stacked the sheets and flicked his eyes over the one on top. His eyes widened, then his grin, and Sairia wasn’t even startled when her favourite idiot whooped and punched the hand holding the bounty posters in the air. “I’ve got a bounty!”

“Really?” Kyla set down her insanely heavy weights and grabbed her tank top from the railing, walking over even as she pulled it back on and tucked it into her haramaki. “How much?” she stopped just behind Ryan, peering around his shoulder at the papers.

“Three million!” Ryan proudly presented his bounty poster to the captain, letting her take it from his hand along with the mystery second sheet. “Coulda had a better epithet, but a bounty’s a bounty.”

“What’s your epithet?” Sairia asked, and Kyla just handed her the first bounty poster. It had a mugshot on it, of all things, and the name printed beneath in crisp black ink was Scarface Ryan. She opened her mouth to say it was a perfectly accurate epithet for a scar-faced idiot like her brother, but was cut off by a shriek from Kyla.

“My bounty’s gone up!” the captain shouted, holding the second poster out so Ryan could look at it.

“Black Blade Kyla, _ten million_ beri?!” he exclaimed, snatching the paper and staring at it with wide eyes. “How is your bounty so much higher than mine?”

“Lemme see that.” Sairia said, grabbing the bottom of Kyla’s bounty poster and tugging gently. Ryan let it go, and she gave it a quick once over. Black Blade Ren Kyla, wanted dead or alive for ten goddamn million beri. Her picture was also a mugshot, but where Ryan had been caught mid-complaint Kyla was scowling straight at the camera, dark eyes intense in her two-coloured face. Sairia had to admit, as mugshots went, it wasn’t a bad one.

“Because she had a bounty before, dipshit.” Tuuli chimed in from the top of the stairs. “They just slapped on a new picture and another zero.”

“And a way cooler epithet.” Kyla beamed, taking her bounty poster back.

“What was your old one?” Sairia asked, getting up from the stairs as Ryan and Tuuli started bickering. If it devolved into a fight, which was about a 50/50 chance with those two, she didn’t want to be in the middle of that.

“Daughter of my mom.” Kyla rolled her eyes. “I mean, I nearly cut a guy’s arm off and that’s what I get? Nothing about being a swordsman, just who I’m related to.” she huffed, and the set of her lips turned it into a pout which made her look, well, like a teenager. Sairia resisted the urge to laugh.

“That’s it, _Luftgevär_!” Tuuli yelled, and Sairia sighed as a blast of wind dug a furrow in the grass, obviously having missed its target.

“Could you two knock it off?” she yelled, but went unheard over the wind howling around the still-arguing pair. Tuuli was, to her credit, very good at dodging. Ryan was holding back, not using any of the fancier techniques he used to show off for her on the roof of their shitty little apartment building, but Tuuli was wielding her powers to full effect.

“ _Läpätä_!” Tuuli shouted, and Ryan staggered sideways against the wall of the AP room. Kyla laughed, and Sairia rounded on her captain in frustration.

“Why don’t you stop them?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. The bounty poster in her hand crinkled, as did the newspaper, but she didn’t care.

Kyla shrugged, grin still firmly on her face. “They won’t actually hurt each other. Plus it’s fun.”

“Fun.” Sairia said flatly. “You think this is _fun_?”

“Well, yeah.” Kyla started up the stairs. “Nakama don’t always have to play nice, y’know.”

Sairia rolled her eyes, but followed her captain up to the second level and watched as the swordswoman broke up the fight without fully unsheathing her longer sword. Ryan stilled before it was an inch out of its sheath, and Tuuli’s wind calmed down immensely when she realized Ryan was no longer fighting back.

“Tuuli, is lunch ready?” Kyla asked, sheathing her sword again.

“Uh, yeah.” their navigator nodded once.

“Great.” Kyla grinned, tucking her forearms behind her head. “You two can spar afterwards, I’m hungry.”

“Of course, captain.” the pair chorused, and then startled in synch. Sairia had to cover her mouth with her free hand to stifle giggles. It really was kinda fun, being a pirate.


	6. Typhoon

“Can I fight you again?”

“Hmm?” Kyla lifted her head, opening her eyes to look at Ryan. He was sitting on the port railing, fishing rod in his hands and an unreadable look on his face.

“I lost our first fight, but I was trying to use your katana.” he inclined his head briefly towards her, indicating Sengo. “Can I fight you with my own swords?”

Kyla ran a hand down the length of her swords, and the absence of a second katana under her palm still made her stomach twist uncomfortably. She couldn’t fight Ryan at full strength, not with a sword missing and certainly not when she was tired. Seriously, how did Zoro manage to go from meditation to napping so smoothly? Whatever, that had nothing to do with Ryan’s question. She should say no, since she couldn’t give him a fight that would accurately show their levels of power. But then again, he was asking to spar, not for her to gauge his skill level. He was good enough to guard her back, and that was what mattered. And hey, even Zoro and Sanji didn’t really go all out on each other when they sparred. The only reason she’d ever fight him with everything she had was if, well, she couldn’t actually think of any reason she’d have to.

“Yeah.” she nodded once after a few seconds, getting to her feet and hanging her swords on her hip. “Yeah, let’s spar.” she grinned and drew Hibiki in her left hand. Parrot, smart kitty he was, jumped down off her shoulder and padded over to jump up on the bench which ringed the main mast.

The sea had been exceptionally still today, and the Dancer was almost perfectly balanced as Tuuli’s nice stiff breeze propelled them forwards. In fact, if the sky hadn’t gotten so cloudy overnight, today would’ve reminded her of the time she crossed the Mirror Sea with her family. That had been a fun day, she’d gotten to see Zoro in silly sunglasses.

Ryan drew both his swords, and Kyla slowly pulled Sengo from his sheath. He was eager today, and as the ring of steel being drawn echoed across the deck Kyla understood why Zoro sensed his swords like music. Sengo was singing in her hand, ready to plunge into battle with her and spill some blood. But no, this wasn’t a battle, this was just a sparring match with one of her nakama. Sengo wasn’t allowed to cut him, not deeper than the skin at any rate.

It was a little weird, having nakama who were around her own age, but no weirder than being the one they looked to as captain. She was quickly getting used to both, much faster than she was getting used to having an entire bed to herself. Well, herself and Parrot, but her kitten was so tiny he didn’t really count.

Ryan began to circle her, and Kyla turned to follow his movements. She hadn’t actually had a chance to watch him fight with his own weapons yet, always busy with her own opponents, but he moved very gracefully. His twin katanas were steady, motionless in relation to his body, and Kyla smirked.

“Want me to strike first?” she teased, feinting towards him on the last word. He yelped, leapt sideways, and just like that they were sparring. Ryan fought cautiously, darting in for an attack and then back out of reach, circling to her right so her dominant hand and longer sword would have a harder time reaching him. He almost caught her in the neck with his first _Fringant Renard_ , but she was able to parry his strike away with Hibiki so the attack’s energy merely grazed the railing on the stairs.

“Captain!”

Kyla held Hibiki out horizontally across her chest, and Ryan stopped as she turned to face Tuuli. “What is it?”

“Yeah, what is it, airhead?” Ryan echoed. Kyla whacked him lightly on the cheek with the flat of Hibiki’s blade.

“The air doesn’t feel right.” Tuuli said. Ryan scoffed, and the navigator ignored him. “I think it might storm soon.”

“Alright.” Kyla nodded and sheathed her swords. Better safe than sorry, when it came to storms. Hopefully the waves wouldn’t be too big for the Dancer to handle.

\---

A wave crashed down over the Dancer’s railing, and Tuuli let out a shout as she was knocked off her feet. Both sails snapped out as their protective bubbles dissipated, the main emitting a terrible ripping noise, and the ship lurched as they caught the storm’s wind. Kyla used the sudden shift to her advantage, and managed to catch her navigator before the pale girl could be swept more than a few feet across the salty deck. “You okay?” Kyla asked, pulling the devil fruit user to her feet.

“Yeah, more or less.” Tuuli said, lifting a hand to wipe the rain out of her eyes. “The sails!” she lifted her hands, but they started shaking before she summoned so much as a breeze.

“Get inside, grab some towels.” Kyla said firmly, grabbing her navigator by the wrists. “We’ll take care of the sails.”

“Captain!” Sairia yelled, her voice steadier than Kyla would have expected considering the girl was so audibly terrified. “Everything’s tied down!”

“All secure below decks, too!” Ryan called a moment later, slamming the trapdoor shut.

“Great!” Kyla grinned, making a mental note to hose the deck down tomorrow. “Furl the mainsail, I’ll get the rear one and tie the main up after.” she grabbed the ladder which lead up the rear mast, and scrambled up to the slanted yard arm. The wood was slick with rain, and pitching as the ship, _their_ ship, danced on the waves. Kyla grinned, and slid to the first rope as the Dancer tilted. Several minutes later, she launched herself off the beam and rolled into a sprint towards the main mast. Ryan and Sairia had already done as ordered, and after another few minutes of knotting sodden ropes Kyla dropped into the rigging to give her crew a wave.

“Head on in.” she called, lifting a hand to her mouth. “I’ll follow in a minute.”

Ryan and Sairia nodded, and Kyla turned to face the bow as her crewmen hurried into the kitchen/common area. The wind whipped past and around her, and she adjusted herself slightly in the rigging to compensate for its gusting. The ropes under her feet were squishy, as was the one wrapped around her left arm and clutched in her fist, but she didn’t care. The rain was warm, soaking her to the skin without making her cold, and a laugh bubbled up in her chest. Kyla threw her head back, and punched her right arm into the sky with a whoop. This was what it was to be a pirate, as free and powerful as the rains which swept over the open ocean.

She laughed again, smile widening as the realization dawned on her. This was it, the reason Luffy had chased his dream to the end of the Grand Line. This electric energy which wasn’t quite adrenaline, but something purer. Kyla laughed, because she could, and when a particularly strong wave jolted her feet from the rigging she screamed not in fear but in exhilaration. The deck wasn’t a far drop, and after rolling to her feet Kyla let the ship’s pitching lead her steps. Her boots splashed in briney puddles of seawater and rain, and she giggled as she danced her way to the helm.

The Dancer was currently adrift, at the whims of a storm Tuuli’s powers couldn’t yet calm, and Kyla stood at the wheel for a moment before gripping the pegs. They’d turned since Tuuli set the rudder, or maybe the waves had, but the end result was the same. Kyla grinned and pulled on the wheel, fighting the Dancer once more into a position pointed almost directly into the waves. When they were set again, she locked the wheel and started back towards where her crew was. The door was open, a rectangle of warm golden light through the rain, and Kyla skipped up the stairs into the cozy little room.

The second she stepped out of the rain and into Tuuli’s little bubble of wind, Kyla got a faceful of terrycloth. “Finally!” Sairia huffed. “I was about to send Ryan out to make sure you hadn’t gone overboard or something.”

“You were gonna make him “drag her in by the hair” if I remember rightly.” Tuuli chuckled, and Kyla pushed the towel up to sit on top of her head. Her navigator was curled up on the counter, a towel around her shoulders and a mug in her hands. The usual breeze whipped out to slam the door shut, and Kyla smiled as her towel flipped back over her face.

“And I was telling you the captain can take care of herself, which I was right about, by the way.” Ryan huffed from the table.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ryan.” Kyla smiled, bending forward and wrapping her hair up in a towel cone. Sairia pulled another towel around her shoulders as soon as she straightened up, and the round-faced medic stepped back to cross her arms and glare.

“Are you an idiot?”

Kyla blinked, but couldn’t manage to stop smiling. “No?” she chuckled.

“Then why were you out there _laughing_?” Sairia snapped, jabbing a finger just under Kyla’s collarbone. “We need to be serious when facing weather like this!”

Kyla couldn’t help it. She giggled.

“Really, Kyla.” Tuuli said, lowering her mug even as the wind filling the cabin gusted stronger. “This is the worst storm I’ve ever seen, and you’re acting just like you do when it’s perfectly fair weather.”

Kyla snorted, and fell into one of the kitchen chairs. “Worst-?” she gasped, laughing harder. “Worst storm ever?” she bent forward, clutching at her soggy haramaki.

“Yes!” her three crewmen huffed, and Ryan managed to bonk her on the head with the hilt of one of his swords without dislodging Parrot from his lap.

Kyla took a few shuddery breaths, in for eleven out for seven, and managed to tamp her laughter down enough to form coherent sentences. “You guys really think this is a terrible storm?” she couldn’t keep the laughter completely from her voice, and it showed in the irritated looks her crew gave her.

“It wouldn’t even be hard to turn this into a typhoon.” Tuuli huffed, uncurling her legs and tapping her heels against the cabinets. “The winds are already strong enough.”

Kyla sniggered, and got a glare from her navigator in addition to a sharp gust of wind flipping the tail of her towel hat into her face. “Come on, is it really that bad?” she asked, pushing the damp cloth out of her face. “I went through a light shower worse than this when I was, like, eight?.”

“What kind of hell did you grow up in?” Ryan asked, squinting at her suspiciously.

“Oh, right.” Kyla rolled her eyes. “You guys have never been outside of your own Blue.”

“You’re not from South Blue?” her nakama exclaimed as one, and she chuckled sheepishly.

“Well, no. I was born in the New World.” the words were followed by absolute, pin-drop silence, and Kyla looked at each of her crew’s faces in turn. “Have I really never mentioned it before?”

“No.” Sairia huffed. “Really, that’s important to know.”

“Not really.” Kyla shrugged. “I mean, I’m not even strong enough to take on _Paradise_ yet, so it shouldn’t matter too much ”

“Paradise.” Tuuli said weakly.

“Paradise is South Blue, right?” Ryan asked.

“Oh, sorry.” Kyla shook her head. “Paradise is the first half of the Grand Line.” she leaned back in her seat, until only her heels and the back legs of the chair were touching the floor. “I don’t think the Blues have any specific names, other than their, y’know, map names.”

“Well, there is the Home of the Pirate King.” Tuuli interjected. “I’ve heard East Blue called that a few times.”

“No, it’s the Weak Blue Sea.” Sairia retorted. “The Pirate King is a fluke.”

“Oh, and so’s the world’s greatest swordsman?” Ryan challenged.

“And the God of Snipers, and the Thunder Witch.” Tuuli smirked.

“Wait, wait.” Kyla held up her hands. “Thunder Witch?”

“Yeah, I heard some bounty hunters talking about her a few weeks before you guys showed up.” Tuuli grinned. “Way more badass than just calling her a plain old Cat Burglar.”

“Y’know what’s really impressive about this conversation?” Sairia smirked. “Ryan and Tuuli actually agreed with each other on something for once.”

“Y’know what we’re not talking about? That.” Tuuli snapped, pale face flushed almost as pink as Sairia’s blouse. Huh, maybe she’d ask about that later.

“Yeah, how about we talk about why our captain chose to start in South Blue instead of at home?” Ryan added, giving her a glare without any heat behind it. Sairia, having taken her seat at the table, sniggered into her own mug of some warm drink, and Kyla decided not to address the fact that the most argumentative members of her nakama had just agreed on a change of topic.

“How about Tuuli gets me something warm to drink?” she said, inclining her head towards the kettle which was still gently steaming.

“We’ve got cocoa mix and, like, five kinds of tea.”

“Cocoa.” Kyla grinned, setting all four legs of her chair back on the floor. A minute later, she was cradling a warm mug between her hands and all eyes were on her.

“Okay, spill.” Ryan crossed his arms. “What’s a New World pirate doing all the way out in South Blue?”

“Yeah.” Tuuli frowned, resting her elbows on the table. “You were born on the other side of the world, what are you doing here?”

Kyla took a sip of her drink, nearly scalded her tongue, and sighed. “There’s a certain island that spans the Calm Belt between South Blue and Paradise. This ship is too big for me to handle by myself, even in Paradise, but in the Blues I figured I would be able to gather a crew to help me without too much trouble.” she took another sip of her cocoa, and smiled at her crew. “And I was right.”

“You had to fight off a whole crew of pirates to get me on your side.” Tuuli said skeptically.

“And you got yourself and Ryan captured by Marines before either of us joined.” Sairia added, gesturing between herself and her brother.

“Well, yeah.” Kyla grinned into her mug. “It’d be boring if there was no trouble at all.”

“Captain makes a fair point.” Ryan smirked, uncrossing his arms to pet Parrot. “We _are_ pirates. Starting shit with Marines and other pirates is kinda what we do.”

“If you’re worried about being bored.” Sairia said slowly, looking into her mug. “We’re heading for the Grand Line, aren’t we.”

“Well, yeah.” Kyla grinned, lowering her own mug. “I need to get back to the New World under my own power, or my family will never stop treating me like a defenseless little kid.” she remembered the handful of promises she’d made before setting sail on her birthday, and her grin sharpened. “Maybe once I get back to them, they’ll realize I can take care of my own damn self.” she lifted her mug, and held it out over the table. “To piracy, and to getting stronger.”

“I’d drink to that if I had anything left.” Ryan chuckled, tapping his empty mug against hers with the hand not petting Parrot.

“Sounds good to me.” Sairia smiled, clinking her mug’s rim with Kyla’s and Ryan’s.

“To getting stronger.” Tuuli echoed, lifting hers and tapping it against Kyla’s and Sairia’s.

“Hey, what about me?” Ryan huffed, moving to tap his mug against Tuuli’s.

“You don’t even have a drink.” she said, holding her mug out of his reach and giving him a look Kyla could only describe as skeptical.

“Because I have Parrot on my lap, and neither of you would get me a refill!”

Kyla chuckled, and looked out the window. This shower would pass, and then Tuuli would read the stars and her compass and set them straight again. But for now, everything was tied down and watertight, and they were all safe and sound.


	7. Insomnia

“Marines!” Tuuli shouted down from the crow’s nest, leaning halfway out one of the windows. Kyla jerked to her feet, pushing back the drowsiness which had set in while she was trying to catch a quick nap on deck. Zoro made it look so damn easy, but all she could do was make herself sleepy. Brushing the heel of her palm over the hilts of her swords helped ground her, a trickle of Sengo’s energy bleeding through her skin and up her arm.

“How far off?” she called back up, trusting the wind to carry her voice. Maybe it’d be worth the effort to find and steal some baby denden mushi for the Dancer. Or buy, but stealing them sounded like more fun.

“Not far enough.” Ryan snapped, putting down the freshly reeled-in fishing rod and hurriedly grabbing the bucket with the few fish he’d caught. “How do you miss a battleship when you’re on lookout duty?”

“What, and you couldn’t keep an eye out?” Tuuli fired back, the flag at the top of the mast flapping wildly as the breeze around it became more irritated. “We can probably outrun them if I fill the sails.” Tuuli looked to Kyla, her face visibly unsure even at a distance. “Should I?”

Kyla shook her head, a smile creeping onto her face as she borrowed some more energy from her first meito. “Let’s have a nice fun fight.”

“What?!” Tuuli yelped, tumbling out of the window. She hit the deck with a massive blast of wind, and as the fruit user pushed herself to her feet Kyla made a mental note to ask how that trick worked later. It could come in handy someday. “You can’t be serious, captain!”

“Awesome!” Ryan cheered. “Captain an’ I’ll take ‘em on no problem.”

“What’s going on?” Sairia asked, leaning out the AP room door.

“We’re picking a fight with Marines!” all three of them on deck said as one. Kyla noted that Tuuli sounded distressed, compared to Ryan who shared her own enthusiasm.

“What?!” Sairia yelped.

“C’mon, Sai.” Ryan laughed, picking up the bucket with his few catches and carrying it up towards the aquarium hatch on the rear deck. “It’s not like it’s a warship. Kyla and I are gonna take it out no problem.”

\---

Kyla grunted as her sword struck another blade, and didn’t break through. She was seriously flagging already, full black haki was next to impossible to hold for any length of time on so little sleep, and now it turned out she wasn’t the only properly trained swordsman on this tub? She did _not_ need this today.

“Who’re you, shithead?” she spat, calling on Sengo for more power. Her first meito was always willing to provide in a fight, though she wondered sometimes where the extra energy came from.

“Ensign Fizdougal Cahal.” the pale freckled man spat back, meeting her swords again with both of his. Kyla couldn’t help it, she laughed.

“Fitzdougal?”

“Shut up, pirate.” he snarled, launching himself at her with a ferocity she’d never seen in a Marine before, let alone one with a coat on their shoulders. A chunk of his loose red-orange hair fell into the young officer’s face, curls bouncing, and Kyla grimaced as she parried his blades away and leapt backwards. Shit, he was kinda cute. Finding Marines attractive was a _spectacularly_ bad plan, and way more drama than she needed or wanted in her life at this point.

After another few vicious swings, Kyla swore under her breath when her heel hit a wall. Fitzdougal- seriously, such a stupid name- had managed to pin her. Such a fucking rookie mistake! Zoro hadn’t done that in a mastery test since she was what, _10_?

“It’s a pity, really.” the Marine smirked, leaning in as he pressed his swords against hers, bringing his blades closer to her neck. “A swordswoman of your skills could’ve made a fine Marine, but instead you use your gifts for _piracy_.”

“Well it’s a shame a cutie like you had to be a Marine.” she shot back, and Fitzdougal looked as stunned as she felt. Why the fuck had she _said_ that? Whatever, she could think about that later, right now the admittedly-kinda-cute Marine was almost stunned enough for her to throw him off and get back the upper hand! Kyla grinned, and leaned forward between their crossed swords to press a chaste kiss to the Marine’s lips. He recoiled, and Kyla whipped Hibiki up to knock its hilt against the redhead’s skull. He staggered back, and went down with a boot to the ribs.

“You’re not half bad, Cahal.” Kyla smirked. “It might be fun to fight you for real, some day.” she cracked the back of Hibiki’s blade over the top of his head, and glanced around the ship. Most all of the Marines were dead or unconscious, and those remaining were up against Ryan and Tuuli. Huh, they actually seemed to fight pretty well together when they weren’t fighting each other. Okay, they were still arguing, but at least Tuuli wasn’t trying to trip Ryan up with her winds.

The biggest of the remaining Marines wore a coat on his shoulders with the markings of a lieutenant commander. Probably the highest ranked officer on this ship. The brute took a swing at Ryan, who was duelling a sword-wielding non-officer, and Tuuli laughed as the swordsman went overboard. Then the massive Marine caught Tuuli with his other fist, and Kyla roared with inarticulate rage as her navigator flew overboard.

“Ryan, get Tuuli!” she shouted, tightening her grip on her swords. Power surged through her, energizing her leaden limbs, and she flung herself at the ship’s captain as the dark haki on her blades deepened to true black. Sengo flashed out, slicing deep into the flesh of every low-ranking Marine who dared get between her and her prey. This brute had hurt her nakama, flung her anchor of a navigator overboard without so much as batting an eye, and for that she was going to _gut him_.

There were a lot of the dipshits, though, and the blows that they managed to land thanks to sheer numbers hurt like hell. Even so, Kyla was too angry to care very much. They were stopping her from destroying the man who’d hurt her nakama, so they needed to die. Sengo was happier than he’d been in a long while, and Kyla found herself giggling as she hacked her way through the mob of uniformed enemies. When she finally cleared herself a path to her target, the man had the gall to laugh and hold out a hand to stop her swords. As if anything other than the darkest of armament haki could stop her now.

“ _Sensui Washi_!” she screamed, twisting her whole body to launch parallel air blades through the Marine’s thick hand and across his wide barrel-like chest. He staggered back, and Kyla jumped into the air to use his body as a springboard and launch herself up above him. He was still mostly upright, which gave her a perfect opportunity to execute one of her rarely-used moves.

Kyla spun her swords so they were nearly perpendicular to her body, and as burning rage mingled with Sengo’s battle song in her veins the fire proved easier to summon than ever. “ _Honō-tōkōka_!” she yelled, bringing her flaming blades down the right side of his torso in parallel. He hollered, and the knuckles of his flailing left hand caught Kyla across the jaw. The impact with the deck hurt worse than she’d expected, and she belatedly realized that was probably because she’d only armoured her swords.

She pushed herself up, but her arms shook and it was like all her energy had been sucked away. No, like she’d burnt it all up on that last attack. Shit. Aaand now the half-fingerless Marine was lumbering towards her with blood red haki coating his intact hand. Double shit. At least Ryan had probably saved Tuuli from drowning, so her nakama would be able to get out of here okay.

“ _Stupränna_!”

Kyla looked up at the hoarse yell, and her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her. Tuuli was planted firmly on the grass deck with both her hands held out, making a motion like she was spinning something. Probably the _massive_ waterspout which had spontaneously roared to life between the Dancer and the MSS-whatever-the-shit, chewing a hole in the side of the Marine ship. Suddenly the funnel bent, and seawater blasted over Kyla’s head. Straight into the Marine bastard’s face.

His cry came out more of a gurgle, and when the water stopped spraying overhead Kyla looked back up to see the deck completely cleared of Marines. “Holy _shit_.” she muttered, sheathing her swords as she staggered to her feet. Her legs felt disgustingly weak, like her bones had suddenly become as flexible as Luffy’s and would no longer support her weight.

“I got you, captain.” Ryan muttered, pulling her arm over his shoulders. She would’ve pushed him away, but her legs were refusing to cooperate again and she really didn’t want to fall over in front of her crew.

The wind was at their back as they crossed the gangplank back to the Dancer, and Kyla sank down onto the mast bench as her ship, _their_ ship, leapt into motion. Tuuli’s wind filled the sails, and they began to leave the Marines in their wake. Gods, she could fall asleep here and now if it wasn’t so damn bright out.

“What the _hell_ was that, Kyla?” Sairia snapped, shoving her shoulder against the mast.

“What was what?” Kyla frowned, sitting up straighter. “It was a good fight, we won.”

“Yeah, but you were fighting weird.” Ryan said, leaning on his sister’s shoulder. “You got cornered, and your blades weren’t even all the way black.”

“Really?” Tuuli and Sairia chorused, tones matched in their disbelief.

“Okay, so I wasn’t giving it my all.” Kyla shrugged, letting her right hand rest over her swords. “They’re just Marines. Didn’t even have a _captain_ onboard, just an ensign and lieutenant commander.”

“Still, that’s _two_ officers.” Ryan said, crossing his arms. “And you couldn’t properly beat either of them.”

“Captain, is something wrong?” Sairia asked hesitantly. Kyla opened her mouth to deny it, to say she was perfectly fine, but she wound up closing it without saying anything. She looked down at her knees, and Sairia took a seat at her left side. “I’m your medic. If you’re sick, or hurt, it’s my job to make sure you get better.”

“I’m fine.” Kyla shook her head. “Just been having some trouble sleeping, that’s all.”

“Is that why you keep playing that nonsense song?” Ryan asked, and Kyla straightened up to properly glare at him.

“It’s not a nonsense song, it’s a North Blue lullaby.” she huffed, releasing Hibiki to cross her arms. So what if it made her look petulant rather than intimidating, Ryan knew full well that she could kill him whenever she wanted to.

“Whatever.” Ryan held up his hands in surrender.

“I could probably give you some drugs to knock you out, but how about this.” Sairia said slowly. “Try sleeping in the bunk room tonight. You used to share a room with your sister and aunt, right? Maybe sharing with your nakama will be better than having that big bed all to yourself.” she grinned, patting Kyla’s leg. 

Kyla looked back down at the mention of nakama, and willed herself not to blush. She’d been thinking of her crew as such for a while, even referred to them as nakama once or twice, but it was a wholly different thing to have Sairia say it.

“It’s worth a shot, captain.” Tuuli said, and Kyla sighed.

“One night.” she conceded, pushing herself to her feet.

“Yes!” Tuuli cheered, earning a skeptical look from Sairia and a glare from Ryan. “What? Now Scarface is outnumbered three to one.”

Kyla rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help but smile. Her crew really were nakama, and she loved them so much it was a little bit frightening. She’d probably die for them, and not just because her status as swordsman and captain demanded she be willing to do so.

\---

_Somewhere on the Grand Line_

A news coo landed on the railing, and Nami quickly pulled out the beri needed to pay it. Three bounty posters fell out when she unfolded it, and she noted the pale S printed on the back of the sheets. South Blue? Those bounties didn't usually make it all the way out here.

She picked them up, and gave the first one a cursory glance. Maelstrom Ranta Tuuli, twenty million beri, a reasonable bounty for someone who held the powers of the Reppū-Reppū no Mi. That could be annoying, if they ever met. Even with her newest ClimaTact, winds which originated from a fruit user could be a pain. The second bounty was higher, forty million beri was pretty impressive for a South Blue rookie, and apparently he was on the same crew as Miss Maelstrom. Scarface Ryan, no family name, just two swords and a whole lot of scars. Probably not a serious contender for Zoro’s title.

The third sheet was probably another member of the Jubilees, one with a high enough bounty that the Marines thought the crew might be coming to the Grand Line sooner than later. In her experience, that was usually why a bounty from one of the four Blues wound up in either half of the Grand Line. Nami flipped to the third and final bounty poster, and her mouth curled in a proud smile. This bounty was set at sixty million beri, and the epithet attached only made her smile wider.

"Sanji." she raised her voice ever so slightly, and the cook was at her side in an instant.

"Yes, Nami?" he grinned, bright and adoring.

"Look at what was in the paper." she handed over the bounty poster, and took a closer look at the bounties of Scarface and Miss Maelstrom. Scarface was a swordsman on the Jubilee crew, and Maelstrom was their navigator. The third bounty belonged to their captain, Black Blade Ren Kyla.

"Oi, Marimo!" Sanji was audibly smiling, and the piece of paper flapped loudly in his hand as he held it up.

"What?" Zoro replied across the deck, and Nami tucked the lesser bounties back into the paper.

"Kyla's got a new bounty." the navigator answered before Sanji could. She turned around, and gripped the day's newspaper in both hands. "It's as high as your first."

"Really?" Zoro set down his weights with a thud and walked over, taking Kyla’s bounty poster from Sanji and looking it over. “It’s a good picture.”

“Of course it is, Kyla’s adorable.” Sanji beamed, leaning against Zoro slightly and gazing at the poster with so much adoration in his eyes it was almost embarrassing to witness. Zoro was right for once, though. Kyla’s bounty picture was certainly better than the mugshot the Marines took of her as a child. She looked every inch a pirate, burns and black-clad swords in full view, a spray of blood visible on her pale and shiny cheek.

“But the picture’s not the most important part, marimo.” Sanji scolded after a moment, giving Zoro a shove and putting an almost-casual distance between them.

“Right.” Zoro smirked. “Black Blade.” his tone was incredibly fond, easily as affectionate as Sanji’s adoring expression, and Nami hid a smile behind the newspaper and bounties of Kyla’s crew. If someone in Cocoyashi had told her when she joined the crew that their cook and swordsman would be acting like this some day, she would’ve laughed in their face.

“Is that her epithet?” Usopp asked, hopping down from where he’d been tending his pop green garden on top of the kitchen. Their long-nosed sniper grinned and elbowed Sanji in the ribs. “Just like her mom, huh?” he leapt backwards before Sanji could kick him, and Zoro slung an arm around the blond’s shoulders, pulling him close again.

“She was holding back.” Zoro said, indicating the bounty picture. “If she’s known for keeping her swords armoured, she was holding back in her last mastery test.” he sounded so ridiculously proud, Nami couldn’t help but giggle.

“Something funny, Witch?” Zoro huffed, moving his arm down to rest around Sanji’s waist. Nami was glad of the newspaper currently hiding half her face.

“You’re both adorable.” she laughed, dodging Zoro’s lazy swipe at her head and grabbing the bounty poster away from him. Sanji elbowed his husband, and held out a hand.

“May I see it again, Nami dear?” he asked with a huge dopey smile. Nami rolled her eyes, but handed over the poster without a fuss and looked over Sanji’s shoulder the way Usopp had circled around to look over Zoro’s. The picture certainly was something, and Sanji had barely looked at the thing before showing it to his husband.

Their youngest nakama had been captured mid-spin, a cascade of braids whipping around her face with the motion, and the burnt side of her face was angled towards the camera. Most striking, however, was the expression on her face. Kyla’s mouth was wide open, her eyes narrowed and nose slightly scrunched. Their youngest nakama had been captured screaming, fury etched into every line of her being, and Nami couldn’t help but smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MSS stands for Marine Sailing Ship. The names of non-Marine government vessels start with WGS, for World Government Ship. _Honō-tōkōka_ is the Japanese words for Flaming Tower Descent all squished together. It’s basically like Zoro’s move _Otoro_ , but on fire. Kyla may not be Sanji’s daughter by blood, but she’s certainly inherited his knack for igniting her weapons.


	8. Nakama

“Ha!” Ryan laughed, bracing his feet against the bottom of the railing and reeling in the massive fish which had unbalanced him by jumping out of the water. “Stupid fish, can’t get away now!”

“Holy crap, that’s a big fish.” Sairia said, leaning over the railing.

“Holy carp, more like.” Ryan laughed again, giving one final heave and landing the monster fish on deck. It was easily as long as he was tall, with a weird pointy nose and massive topside fin. “Okay, maybe not a carp.” he admitted, slipping a hand in its gills and holding it down so it couldn’t get him with that painful-looking nose while he pulled out the fish hook. “Hey, Ky, lookit this!” he hefted his catch up for his captain to see.

Instead of looking over like he’d expected, Kyla paused mid-swing and slowly lowered her stick of weights to the deck. “That name is not yours to use.” she said, her tone verging on threatening. Her expression, however, wasn’t on the verge of anything. She could’ve killed a man with that look, could’ve melted solid steel, and Ryan was very glad that his captain wasn’t the type to maim her own crew for something so trivial.

Ryan swallowed and nodded quickly, his gaze flicking briefly to where the shorter swordsman’s katana hung prominently on her hip. “Sorry, captain.”

“How can a name be off limits?” Sairia asked, obviously not as scared of Kyla’s demon sword as she would be if she understood what type of spirit it carried. Kyla sighed, and ran her left thumb over the hilt of her tachi. Good, Hibiki was less liable to take one of his sister’s fingers off.

“You two go get that swordfish in the aquarium, and I’ll tell you.”

Ryan gave a brief, respectful nod, and Sairia’s head bobbed with his. “Yes, captain.” they chorused, and Sairia gripped the fish’s tail to help haul the struggling creature up the stairs to the hatch behind the kitchen. It slipped into the water with a quiet splash, and Ryan wiped his fishy hands on his cargo pants as he kicked the hatch shut.

Sairia went down the stairs first, and Ryan knelt to secure the rudimentary latch on the aquarium trap door. Kyla always smiled when he called her captain, and when he called his sister and the navigator by their various nicknames. So what was wrong with Ky? It wasn’t offensive, like most of the damn fruit user’s were meant to be, just a shortening of her name. He sighed and stood up, walking back down to the grass deck.

Kyla was sitting on her weights, legs crossed, fiddling with the braided ornament which decorated her katana’s saya. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” she said as soon as Ryan set foot on the grass. “You had no way of knowing that nickname was taken.”

“What does that even mean?” Sairia frowned, leaning against the railing next to the landing bucket. “How can a nickname be taken?”

Kyla groaned and dragged a hand through her bangs, revealing weird curly eyebrows for a split second before her equally curly hair fell back down to cover them. “Okay, I guess it’s not a South Blue thing.” she looked up, straightening her back so her posture was next to perfect. “In my family, there are two types of nicknames. The type that replaces your real name, and the type that only one person uses.” she smiled slightly and looked down again, still fiddling with the decoration on her saya. “For about a year, Ky was the former.”

“So why-”

“The only people allowed to call me that are in the New World.” Kyla spoke right over him, hand stilling on Sengo’s saya. “To them I was, and always will be, their friend Ky.” she smiled again, curling her fingers around the ornament. “Well, to most of them anyways.”

“Wait,” Ryan frowned. “If you only accept nicknames that fit in one of those categories, then why do you let all of us call you Kyla _and_ captain?”

Sairia rolled her eyes, but Kyla smiled. At him, not at her sword. “Captain’s not a nickname, silly. It’s a title. Any of us could call for a doctor and Sairia would come running. It’s her job.”

“Oh, please.” Sairia’s cheeks darkened with a blush. “I’m nowhere near good enough to be a doctor yet.”

“Medic, then.” Kyla conceded. “But the point stands.”

“I guess it does.” Ryan nodded slowly. “Guess I’ll just have to call you Cap, then.”

“I can’t believe Tuuli earned a nickname before Kyla did.” Sairia grinned. Ryan swiped at her, but she was too far away for him to make contact.

“Shut up. Windy’s got insults, not nicknames.”

“No, those count as nicknames.” Kyla was beaming now. “Most of my mom and sensei’s nicknames for each other are insults.”

“See? Captain agrees with me.” Sairia said smugly.

“What the hell kind of crazy dysfunctional family did you grow up in?” Ryan frowned for a second, then pursed his lips a bit to the side and cocked his head. “Actually, never mind, that explains a lot. Nobody could grow up like that and come out sane.”

“Excuse you, I am perfectly sane.” Kyla huffed, crossing her arms. Combined with the petulant look on her face, it made her seem about five years younger.

Ryan couldn’t help it, he laughed. “Sane people don’t fight like you do, Cap.”

“Well, your definition of sanity must be pretty wimpy then.” Kyla grinned, slowly unsheathing her demon sword and sliding its saya back into place on her hip. “Let’s go, me an’ you.”

“You’re on.” Ryan grinned, Bailia and Voski’s twin hilts already in his hands.

“Okay, you two do that.” Sairia pushed off the railing and walked past Ryan towards the door which lead to the storage deck and stairs down to what had once been Kyla’s room. “I’ll go hang out with Tules. You break anything, you’re fixing it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyla really is perfectly sane, for a Straw Hat. “For a Straw Hat” being the operative phrase. After that incident with the Marines last chapter, Kyla started sleeping in the bunk room with the rest of her crew. Parrot isn’t particularly happy with this, but he’s just the ship’s cat so his opinion doesn’t really count for all that much. The captain’s quarters is now their infirmary, and doubles as a lounge.


	9. Haki

Ryan flopped backwards onto the grass deck, and Kyla mostly fell into a sitting position across from him. She could’ve won that fight easily, but it was more fun when she let her nakama think he had a chance. Ryan was far from an ideal sparring partner, too weak to actually challenge her, but it was still fun.

“Hey, Cap?” Ryan said, tilting his head slightly to look at her instead of the cloud-spattered sky.

“What?” Kyla asked back, looking up and watching the scraps of fluffy white dart by overhead.

“How come your swords never go all dark when we’re sparring?”

Kyla rolled her eyes. Ryan was far too weak for her to unleash her haki on, but she didn’t want to say that to his face. He’d trained himself to be strong enough to handle their South Blue enemies, and she’d been trained by the World’s Greatest Swordsman to withstand the brutality of the New World. The difference in their levels of power was perfectly natural, and would probably even out eventually.

“Why would I use haki against you?” she asked rhetorically, not looking down from the clouds scudding by high above them. “You’re nakama, I’m not gonna hurt you or your swords without a damn good reason.”

“What does hockey have to do with anything?” Ryan more or less sat up, weight resting on his arms and legs still splayed out in front of him.

Kyla frowned, fixing her eyes on the taller swordsman. “What do you mean, what does it have to do with anything?”

“I mean, what does hockey have to do with your swords?”

‘Okay, now you’re just being stupid.“ Kyla held up her left hand and armoured it dark red.

“That!” Ryan pointed at her hand. “What does hockey have to do with that?”

“This _is_ haki, you dipshit.” Kyla kicked at Ryan’s feet, her heel striking the toe of his boots. “What did you think it was?”

“That’s not hockey.” Ryan shook his head stubbornly, sitting up and crossing his legs. “Hockey is a game. That’s, idunno, I guess I thought it was a devil fruit power?” he shrugged helplessly.

“Wait, wait.” Kyla frowned. “Do you mean you didn’t know about armament and observation haki?”

“Never heard of ‘em.” Ryan shook his head. Kyla sat back, letting her armament haki dissipate and resting her weight on her hands.

“Wow. I never realized the four Blues were so weak.” she muttered, looking over her swordsman’s visible scars. With his sleeves cuffed up to the elbows, there were rather a lot of them.

“What, is it commonplace in the New World?” he asked, now leaning forward.

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded. “I don’t know about Paradise, though.”

“Can you teach me?” Ryan was now grinning, and Kyla couldn’t help but return the expression.

“I think I could give it a shot.” she fixed her posture and held a hand out, dark black haki pooling in her palm. “The theory behind armament haki is pretty simple. It’s a manifestation of your willpower, the spirit that drives you to fight, and its strength is determined by the strength of your will. Observation haki, on the other hand, is an extension of your awareness. It lets you sense peoples’ intent, and if you’re good enough you can tell when and how they’re gonna attack.”

“Ooh, that sounds fun.” Ryan grinned. “Let’s do that one first.”

“Okay, uhh...” Kyla trailed off, trying to remember how she’d learnt observation haki. There had been blindfolded tag with Luffy Usopp and Chopper, blindfolded hide and seek with anyone who could be dragged into a game, but first Zoro had taught her how to sense her swords coming at her. “Can you sense your swords?” she asked, running a hand over Hibiki’s saya. The presence of her blades was as familiar as her own heartbeat, though their light had darkened a little bit since the loss of her first on Sint.

“No. Teach me.” Ryan grinned, shifting to kneel with his hands resting on his legs.

Kyla let her head hang back. “I don’t knooow.” she groaned. “I figured it out when I was so little, I don’t remember what I did.”

Ryan tipped over sideways, landing on the ground with a petulant glare. “Worst teacher ever.”

“Okay, okay.” Kyla sighed, lifting her hand from Hibiki and rubbing her forehead with two fingers. “I taught some younger kids back when I was thirteen, so I know I can do this. It’d just be easier if you had something to start off of.”

“Geez, maybe lead with that next time.” Ryan huffed, pushing himself back upright. “Can we get started?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Kyla smiled, fixing her own posture. “Okay, so first you need to focus on your swords.”

\---

“Do I even want to know what’s going on here?” Tuuli asked, leaning against the door frame. She’d come up to start on making dinner, and found her captain still sparring with Ryan. Only now, Ryan had Kyla’s bandana wrapped around his face like a blindfold and was swinging around a pair of wooden swords while Kyla used his twin blades.

“I’m teaching Ryan how to use haki!” Kyla beamed, easily ducking a wide swing and bopping Ryan on the forehead.

“Hockey?” Tuuli frowned. There wasn’t a field hockey stick or ball in sight. “This doesn’t look like hockey.”

“Well _duh_.” Ryan let his mouth hang open like an idiot, facing a bit to her left. “It’s observation haki, not field hockey.”

Kyla sniggered, and lowered Ryan’s swords. Ryan lowered his wooden ones as well, and settled into a more relaxed stance. Did he think she was above smacking him for his sass when the captain was watching? The captain didn’t even care when they started fighting up and down the deck! She flipped a blast of wind at his face, making him stagger back a step.

“I wasn’t talking to you, dipshit.” she huffed. Kyla giggled, and gestured for Ryan not to strike back as he pulled the bandana from his face.

“Haki is a combat technique that’s pretty common in the New World.” her captain said with a quick smile. “I’m showing Ryan how to use it to predict incoming attacks.”

“By blindfolding him?” Tuuli frowned. From what she’d learnt fighting with Ryan these past few weeks, predicting your opponent’s next move usually involved watching them. How was the blond swordsman supposed to do that without being able to see?

“Yeah. I could teach you too, if you want.” Kyla was fairly beaming, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I bet even Sairia can learn a bit of observation. Probably not armament though, her fighting spirit’s kinda low.”

Tuuli cocked her head to the side for a moment, then crossed the grass deck to stand a respectful distance in front of the girl she’d chosen to call her captain. “What’s the difference?”

“Well, observation haki is about sensing what’s around you, and if someone’s about to attack. Armament haki lets you, well, armour yourself and your weapons.”

“I wanna learn that one.” Tuuli said quickly. “Armament haki.”

“I’m not sure if it’ll work on your winds, but I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Kyla fairly beamed. “Hey, get Sairia and I can teach all three of you at once.”

“Aye aye, captain.” Tuuli gave a little salute, and turned to head back inside down to the captain’s-quarters-turned-lounge/infirmary. Sairia, she had a hunch, would be needing armament haki in the future. Marines didn’t care if you were a non-combatant, only if you were pirate or civilian, and Sairia fell firmly on the pirate side of that line. Having their medic shot would be really bad, especially considering how often they needed her.


	10. Ashwinder

“Holy shit.”

Kyla looked up at Sairia’s soft exclamation, and a smile spread over her face. The cliffs of the Red Line jutted up from the horizon, and even though she’d seen that same stone up close on the other side of the world it took her breath away. Rising up from the impossibly tall cliffs was an even more impossibly tall mountain.

“Reverse mountain.” she breathed, setting down her weights and straightening into a relaxed stance.

“Uh, Cap?” Ryan asked from the rigging, hanging upside down by his knees. “How are we getting past that again?”

“Not entirely sure.” Kyla admitted. “Tuuli, you said there’s an island we can stop at before leaving South Blue?”

“Yep, Ashwinder Isle.” Tuuli replied, her eyes still fixed on the mountain ahead. “It’s that low smudge just starboard of the bow.”

Kyla looked where her navigator indicated, and sure enough there was the vague shape of an island ahead of them. “See if the islanders have anything useful to say about Reverse Mountain.”

“I’ll listen to the dock chatter when we get there, see what I can find out.”

“Please.” Ryan scoffed. “An airhead like you wouldn’t learn anything.”

Tuuli narrowed her eyes and glared at Ryan, hair whipping in the suddenly restless wind. “Are you saying you can do my job better than I can?” she asked, her tone icy. Kyla grinned, and picked her weights up to bring back below deck. There was no clash of metal on hard rubber, but Ryan’s swords sang through the howling air as she shouldered open the door.

Their words were lost as Kyla headed down into her ship, but the tone of their screaming fight was still fully audible. It was comforting, in a way, to hear two of her nakama arguing so spiritedly. Tuuli’s piercing shrieks of anger overlapping Ryan’s taunts and petty insults. She set her weights back in their holders, and made sure the clips to hold them in place were secure. They would have to pick up some oil on Ashwinder, the clips weren’t the only hinges which were starting to make noise when moved.

Kyla went through the list of things they needed in her head again. Food, oil, more thread for patching up battle-damaged clothing. They could all do with some new clothes too, actually. Tuuli only had two pairs of jeans and three shirts, and pretty much all of Sairia and Ryan’s clothing was old as hell. Oh, and Tuuli would need a log pose to guide them through the Grand Line. There was a possibility they could make it to one of the first islands by following a normal compass, but Kyla really didn’t want to chance that.

Ryan was slumped against the mast when she stepped back onto the deck, and Tuuli was up at the front of the ship leaning on the wheel. Kyla grinned, and stopped a few feet in front of Ryan. “How’re we doing on treasure?” she asked, hooking her thumbs in her pockets. Ashwinder Isle was much more distinct now, all sharp angles and low-hanging fog. It would’ve looked perfectly at home in the New World if not for the bustle of ships going to and from the island’s many ports.

“We have enough cash to restock the pantry and fridge, but for anything else we’ll have to get some of the loot appraised.” Ryan answered easily, not even opening his eyes. “Not sure how much, but probably a lot. Sairia wants some new clothes, and the infirmary’s even more bare bones than before.”

“New clothes sound nice.” Kyla agreed, bracing her forearm against the mast and leaning on it. “You and I’ll take half the treasure to get appraised while Tuuli and Sairia shop for food. Then we can get everything else we need, and some nice stuff for ourselves too.”

“You think half will be enough?” Ryan looked up, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“If it’s not, we can always grab more.” Kyla shrugged. “Hey, Tuuli.” she raised her voice a bit, drawing her navigator’s attention. “Which port are we landing at?”

“The western one.” the pale girl replied without hesitation, sliding her glasses back onto her face. “Eastern has mostly Marine flags, southern is mostly merchants, and northern seems to be local crafts.”

“There are Marines here?” Kyla grinned, running her hand over Sengo and Hibiki’s hilts.

“Can we maybe try to _avoid_ getting in a fight? Just once?” Sairia asked. Kyla looked over her shoulder, and saw her medic leaning on the railing outside the kitchen door. “The infirmary’s bare enough without you sword-swinging idiots getting cut up _again_.”

“C’mon, Sai.” Ryan grinned, rolling to his feet. “You know our captain.”

“Hey!” Kyla huffed. “It’s not like I go looking for trouble.”

“But you never turn down a fight, either.” Tuuli chimed in, walking down from the wheel.

“Ryan, maybe now’d be a good time to gather that treasure?” Sairia prompted.

“Yeah, let’s go do that.” Kyla agreed, grabbing her scarred swordsman by the elbow. “I want it all bagged and ready by the time we make port, which’ll be...?” she looked to Tuuli.

“If I’m reading the currents right, about half an hour.”

“Cool. We’ve got half an hour to bag up the shit we’re bringing in for appraisal. Call for me before we pull into port, okay?”

“Will do, captain.” Tuuli smiled sweetly. A helpful breeze shut the door on their heels, and Kyla stifled a giggle as Ryan yelped, complaining about the knob striking him. It was nice, having such lively nakama. Made the Dancer feel just a little more like home.

\---

“Holy shit.” Ryan laughed, hefting the briefcase in one hand. “I never realized money was so heavy.”

“I know, right?” Kyla grinned, swinging the case with the other half of their money over her shoulder. “I mean, coins are one thing, they’re metal, but how come paper weighs so much?”

“Well, there is a lot of it.” Ryan let the case in his hand knock against his knee. “Sairia’s gonna be able to stock up the infirmary better than it was when we came aboard.”

“And I can get a new sword.” Kyla smiled, but it was a fleeting thing. She stopped walking a few paces later, and Ryan turned to see what had captured his captain’s attention.

“A compass shop?” he asked, skepticism colouring his voice. If it had been a sword shop he would've understood, Kyla had been down a sword almost as long as he'd known her and here she could finally get a replacement.

“A log pose shop.” Kyla answered, starting towards the building.

“The hell’s a log pose?” Ryan frowned, following after her.

“A compass for the Grand Line.”

The Grand Line? Ryan felt his eyebrows rise on his forehead. Kyla never said Grand Line, it was always Paradise or New World with her. “Wind-for-brains already has a compass.” he pointed out. “Why do we need another one?”

“Because a normal compass is worthless on the Grand Line.” Kyla replied, the ‘duh’ on the end unspoken but clear in her tone. “A Paradise pose won’t be any good in the New World, but we can get a New World pose when we get there.”

Okay, that was more like the Kyla he knew. If she said this thing was what they needed to get through Paradise, then he’d believe her. Even if it meant spending some of their newly-acquired cash on a fancy new compass for their soulless witch of a helmsman.


	11. Masaru

“Careful.” Kyla said, settling the log pose in Tuuli’s cupped hands. “It’s made of glass, so it’s really fragile.”

“I’ll take good care of it.” Tuuli nodded, lifting the fancy compass by its leather straps. It fastened around her wrist easily, the tongue of the tiny buckle slotting into one of the holes near its smallest setting, and she tilted her wrist to make sure it wouldn’t slide around. The needle swung as she moved, its tip never straying from true north. Okay, she had to admit, that was neat. 

“Alright. Ryan, what’s our allowance?” Kyla said, clapping her hands together and looking at the idiot swordsman. Why the captain let him handle the ship’s money was beyond Tuuli, but they hadn’t gone broke so far, so...

“I was thinking fifty thousand beri each?”

Tuuli’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Fifty _thousand_? That was more than she spent in a whole month, back on Baterilla!

“Sounds good.” Kyla nodded once. “But if I’m going to get a decent new sword, I’ll need at least a million.”

“Good point.” Ryan nodded, considering the cases in front of him. “Two and a half?”

Two and a half _million_ beri? Tuuli pressed a hand to her chest. Good gods, that was a lot of money. She wasn’t sure she’d ever even seen that much money in one place, and she was positive she’d never dropped that much on a single purchase. Was piracy normally this lucrative?

“Here you go.” Ryan grinned, handing Sairia a wad of bills. “Whatever you don’t use on resupplying, feel free to spend on whatever you like.”

“I’m going to get the cutest dresses.” Sairia beamed, clutching the wad of bills to her chest.

Ryan tossed a much smaller wad at Tuuli, and she had to whip a stiff headwind at it so it didn’t fly over her head. “That’s yours.” he said flatly, then turned to counting out a chunk for himself. “This much for me, and then the rest of this is the captain’s.” he closed the case he’d been pulling the money out of, and held it out to Kyla. Tuuli looked down at the wad of beri in her hand, and flipped through it quickly. Five hundred thousand beri in two thousand beri bills.

“Nice, isn’t it?”

Tuuli’s head snapped up, wind wheeling around her feet before she reeled it in. Just Kyla, she didn’t need to defend herself from Kyla. “What?” she asked, holding her money tight so it wouldn’t slip out of her hands and fly away.

“Having spending money.” Kyla nodded at her wad of cash.

“I’ve never had this much cash on hand in my entire life.” Tuuli chuckled, pressing the stack of bills to her chest. Kyla grinned, and clapped her on the shoulder.

“Well, hope you’re ready to part with some of it, because Sairia’s dragging us shopping.”

Tuuli scoffed and shrugged off her captain’s hand. “Dragging you, maybe. I’m getting sick of wearing the same few pieces of clothing every day. And my makeup is running low, too.”

“Great.” Kyla huffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. “Don’t expect me to give any kind of feedback on that shit. I can barely put on chapstick.”

“I know.” Tuuli chuckled. As if she’d take fashion or makeup advice from someone who dressed like Kyla did. “Lemme grab a bag for my cash, and I’ll join you on the dock.”

“Be quick about it, okay?” Kyla grinned back. “The sooner we’re done shopping, the sooner we can start towards Reverse Mountain.”

\---

“Kyla?”

Tuuli paused at Sairia’s tone, and looked over her shoulder. Their captain had stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk, eyes slightly unfocused, like she was looking at something other than the world in front of her. “Captain?” Tuuli said hesitantly, setting down the front end of the cart on its thick wooden legs. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” Kyla blinked and shook her head, a smile spreading on her face. “Watch the cart, would you? I’ll only be a minute.” she started across the street, and Tuuli’s eyes landed on the drab storefront which was undoubtedly where she was heading.

“A sword shop?”

“Ryan did give her all that extra cash to get a new sword.” Sairia pointed out.

“True.” Tuuli nodded slowly. “Wanna take the cart across the street and watch through the window?”

“Hell yeah.” Sairia grinned. Her pushing helped get the cart rolling, and Tuuli pulled up outside the store’s big plate-glass window. Inside, Kyla was talking to the cashier, pointing at the back wall where swords were up on display with their sheaths just beneath them.

“Oooh, lookit that all-black one.” Sairia pointed up, and Tuuli scanned the top row. Sure enough, there was a sword which was all black save the silver of the blade.

“That’d look awesome with her haki.” Tuuli nodded. Inside, Kyla drew her longer sword from her haramaki, sheath and all, and laid it on the counter.

“What’s she doing?” Sairia frowned.

“Don’t ask me.” Tuuli shrugged. “You’re the one with a sword-swinging moron for a brother.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I went with him on sword-related trips. People usually wound up dying.”

“Fair.” Tuuli tilted her head slightly to the side. “Oh, look, she’s-” she paused, frowning as Kyla slid her katana back into place on her hip. “Why’s he so freaked out?”

“Idunno.” Sairia shrugged. “Ryan said that one’s cursed or something. Maybe the guy’s superstitious?”

“Oh, he’s getting one of the wall swords down.” Tuuli said quickly, watching the man wheel a wall-mounted ladder out from the corner. The sword he stopped at, though, wasn’t the black one. It was shorter, with gold wrappings on the handle and a sheath that faded from orange by the handle to rich purple at the tip.

“Pretty.” Sairia cooed, leaning forward slightly.

“Yeah.” Tuuli nodded, stepping back to lean against the cart. “But doesn’t it seem kinda short?”

“Oh, yeah, it does.” Sairia frowned. “But I’m sure the captain can handle it. She wouldn’t be buying it otherwise.”

And sure enough, Kyla was pulling a wad of money barely thicker than Tuuli’s own out of the case she’d been carrying. She put the case itself down on the counter, open, and tucked the wad of bills in her pants pocket. Her long sword she hung in the lowest loop, her normal one got moved to the middle loop, and as the man behind the counter checked how much she’d paid him she hung the shortest sword from the highest loop. Tuuli made a mental note to grab some orangey-yellow paint while they were out.

Kyla exited the shop a short while later with a smile on her face, three swords clacking together as she walked over to them. “Her name is Masaru.” she said softly, running a hand down the shiny wood sheath of her newest weapon.

“Her?” Tuuli said skeptically, eyebrows lifting on her forehead.

“Mmhmm.” Kyla nodded, stroking the sword again. “She’s gonna get along with Sengo just fine.”

“They’re swords.” Tuuli said flatly, stepping aside so Kyla could pick up the handles for the cart.

“And?” Kyla started forwards, dragging the cart behind her. “They’ve got as much personality as any one of us.” she looked over her shoulder, and smiled brightly. “Now c’mon, Sairia’s barely bought anything. You wanted some cute new dresses, right?”

“Oh, well.” Sairia flushed. “I just haven’t seen anything I’d look good in yet, is all.”

“Bull.” Tuuli huffed, grabbing one of Sairia’s braided pigtails to tug on it. “We passed that boutique on the last block with all those frills and bows. You’d look great in any of that crap.”

“But-”

“No buts.” Kyla grinned, turning the cart around and starting back towards them. “You’re at least gonna get those shoes you were eyeing.”

“They’re not practical, though.” Sairia protested, round face flushed dark. “And nothing in that store was meant for my body type.”

“So?” Tuuli smiled, tugging on her braid again. “We’re pirates now, remember? We don’t have to give a shit if it was made for us. You want it, you get it.”

Sairia’s blush darkened, but she smiled as they stepped aside to let Kyla through and walk behind the cart. “You really think I’d look good in those?”

“I think you’ll look _adorable_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this chapter, I’m sorry to say that Jubilees will be on hiatus for a few months. I’m participating in three separate big bangs (one 25k min, one 10k min, one 5k min) and need to focus on getting those all finished and ready to publish by their assigned dates. Chapter 12, Twin Capes, should be up April 3rd.


	12. Reverse Mountain

“Alright, everyone!” Tuuli said, her voice carrying easily across the deck. “Hold onto your hats, cuz we're leaving South Blue in a couple minutes!”

“None of us wear hats!” Sairia called back, smiling as she planted her feet and wound a rope around her forearm.

“Cap, I hate to ask, but are you _sure_ this is the best way into the Grand Line?”

“Absolutely.” Kyla nodded. She’d heard the story countless times, how her family rode up the mountain and came back down to meet Crocus and Laboon and Vivi. The only other way in was through the Calm Belt, and while Tuuli could certainly power them through Kyla wasn’t sure she could take on a Sea King by herself just yet. Zoro hadn’t been able to do that until he was twenty, and she was still just a teenager.

“Not like we’ve got much of a choice now.” Tuuli said, her voice markedly grimmer. “The current is too strong to fight here.”

“Well then, you better steer us straight and true.” Kyla grinned. She had no doubt that her navigator and helmsman could do it. Tuuli was exceptionally powerful, especially considering she’d had her powers for so short a time. With the wind on their side, all they had to do was aim the Dancer into the upward stream that would carry them past the ring of clouds and straight into Paradise.

“I think I see the opening.” Tuuli said, pulling on the steering wheel. They angled slightly to port, and Kyla hopped up into the rigging to squint ahead. Sure enough, if she looked past the sharky figurehead she could make out a dark line that cut straight up the red stone cliff face.

“Just looks like more rock to me.” Ryan said as she dropped back to the deck.

“C’mon, Ryan.” Kyla clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Tuuli’s our navigator, you should have a little more faith in her.”

“She has no _soul_!” he exclaimed, gesturing to where Tuuli was keeping the helm steady.

“So?” Kyla frowned. “She’s still a damn good navigator. Actually studied it and shit.”

“I-”

“Ryan, shut up.” Sairia said sharply. “I’d rather not talk about us dying while we’re about to enter the Grand Line.”

“That’s definitely the entrance.” Tuuli glanced over her shoulder, uncertainty on her face. “I might be able to get us out, still, but-”

“Didn’t you just say a minute ago that this current’s too strong to fight?” Ryan asked, nose scrunching up in evident disgust.

“Yeah, but not the adjacent one.” Tuuli replied testily. “It’d be close, but I think-”

“Keep going.” Kyla said, cutting off her navigator. “We’re not turning back.” if she turned back, she would never be able to face her family as an equal. She had to prove to them that she could handle herself, that she was strong enough to be a pirate in her own right. Strong, capable pirates didn’t turn away at the Red Line.

“Didn’t think so, captain.” Tuuli smiled, and there was something wild in that grin, an energy that reminded Kyla of her newest sword. “Sairia, I need a little more slack in that sail.” Tuuli said, turning back to the helm. “Ryan, Kyla, get the mizzen loose and wait for my instructions.”

“On it!” Kyla said, Sairia and Ryan’s voices ringing out in unison with hers. The next few minutes were full of rope tugging, holding the sails at the proper angle as Tuuli finangled their course to account for the current’s speed and strength shifting under them. Finally, though, they were pointed straight at the opening. And it definitely was an opening, that was plainly visible now. Rich red beams formed archways from one side of the channel to the other, framing the water that rushed up the mountainside. It was beautiful.

Sairia muttered something about second thoughts, but Kyla ignored her. The entrance to Paradise was growing closer, and her heart felt like it was about to crawl up her throat in excitement. “Listen.” she said, straightening up as a sound caught her ear. “Do you hear that?”

“It sounds like a river.” Tuuli said, eyeing the channel warily. “A fast one.”

“Sounds like danger.” Sairia added with a shiver.

“Sounds like a _challenge_.” Ryan grinned, and Kyla smiled at him.

“Sounds like our future calling.” she said, vaulting down from the rear deck. The roaring was louder now, impossible to ignore. Kyla could see the water frothing white around the stone bases of the pillars and against the walls of the channel. She’d seen far more dangerous waters before, sailed them since she was a child, but something about this still had her heart racing. Maybe it was the fact that Dancer was so much smaller than Sunny, maybe it was because she didn’t have her family at her side, maybe it was because this time she was the captain directing them into danger instead of one of the crew being trusted to be capable of handling it.

Whatever the reason, as her ship was swept forward by the current she felt her face splitting with a wide smile. This was it. No more Blue Seas for her, just Paradise and the sea she’d been born and raised in. Her crew yelped as the bow started to tilt upwards, and Kyla rushed to the rigging. The figurehead would’ve been better, but she was too far back for that. So instead she wrapped her right arm and leg in the rigging, hanging under the rope lattice as the boat under her tilted up, and up, until they were rushing up the mountain as breakneck speed.

Coup de Burst had nothing on this. The roar of the current, the salty wind whipping through her hair, the screaming of her nakama as they rushed ever higher up the mountainside, ears popping at the rapid change in pressure. Kyla opened her mouth to whoop, and a laugh burst out instsead as they broke through the clouds and launched into the air above the mountaintop pool. She screamed as they landed, water spraying up in every direction as they were sucked towards the widest, probably deepest stream. The only one which went downhill. Her nakama screeched in terror as they tipped over the edge, and Kyla punched her free hand in the air with a whoop.

“Paradise, here we come!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said this chapter would be Twin Capes, but that last line was too perfect not to end the chapter on it. Twin Capes will be up next week, though, with some familiar faces making an appearance!


	13. Twin Capes

The Grand Line, when they drifted to a halt at the base of the mountain, was more placid than she’d expected. Sairia pressed a hand to her chest, and willed her pounding heart to slow down. “Everyone alive?” she asked, looking around at her nakama. Tuuli was slumped against the steering wheel, Kyla had fallen from her spot in the rigging, and Ryan was out of sight on the upper rear deck.

“I’m good.” her brother called, sounding shaken and slightly breathless.

“Let’s not do that again.” Tuuli groaned, rolling onto her side.

“That was **awesome**!” Kyla yelled, rocking up from sprawled on her back to sit cross-legged on the grass. “Holy shit, that was so much fun.”

Of course her crazy captain would think that Reverse Mountain was _fun_. Sairia sighed, and leaned heavily on the railing as Kyla got to her feet.

“I’m gonna go make sure nothing got dislodged on the gun deck.” Kyla beamed, practically skipping as she headed to the door. “Tuuli, get us over towards the lighthouse. We need to spend some time here for the pose to set.”

“Will do.” Tuuli raised one hand in a thumbs up, and Kyla vanished below the deck. Sairia slowly got to her feet, and headed to where her friend was hauling on the ship’s wheel.

“You okay?” she asked, putting one hand on the spokes to make it stop turning.

“More or less.” Tuuli grimaced. 

“More more, or more less?” Sairia frowned.

“More less. Handling the wheel kinda hurts.”

“Alright.” Sairia sighed. “I’ll go grab my kit. Try not to move aronud too much while I’m gone?”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Tuuli chuclked, then winced. “Ow, laughing hurts.”

“Okay, that’s not good.” Sairia frowned, putting a hand on Tuuli’s shoulder and pushing down until she knelt next to the wheel. “Sit there, and don’t move.” she said, taking a few steps away before turning and pointing at Tuuli again. “I mean it.”

Tuuli lifted a hand in a thumbs up, and Sairia hurried down into the infirmary. Her quick-kit hung on a hook by one pastel blue strap, the cute kitty face stitched on the front flap smiling at her as she pulled it down and slung it over her shoulder. Tuuli had only moved slightly, going from kneeling to slumped against the wheel, but that was about three times better than what she’d come to expect from her idiot swordsmen. She was alone, too, which made Sairia frown for a moment before shaking her head slightly. Ryan had gotten tossed around worse than this before, he’d survive until she finished patching up their navigator.

“Can you take a deep breath for me?” she asked as she set her bag down and opened it up. “”

Tuuli inhaled for about half a second, then exhaled sharply. “It hurts.”

Okay, definitely rib damage then. “Alright. I need to pull your shirt up to check if anything’s broken. Try not to squirm.” she gripped the deep teal fabric and pulled it up until it bunched under Tuuli’s armpits. The navigator hissed when she tried to lift her arms to let it come all the way off, though, so Sairia left it bunched up and resting on top of her boobs. “Ouch.” she murmured, wincing as she sat back and took in the red, steering wheel-shaped mark which spanned most of Tuuli’s torso. “That’s gonna be a nasty mark.”

“Good thing I don’t wear crop tops.” Tuuli grinned, and Sairia chuckled as she started gently prodding at her friend’s sides.

“Well, nothing seems broken.” she said after finishing her check. “Your ribs are probably bruised, though, so you shouldn’t be steering the ship for a couple of days.”

“Oi, pirates!”

Sairia turned towards the unfamiliar voice, and after a second stood and made her way to the railing nearer the lighthouse Kyla had wanted them to head for. An old man was leaning on a cane on the red stone peninsula, strange petals sticking up from behind his head. “What?” Sairia replied, stomach churning uneasily. Sure, Kyla had named her vice-captain, but this was the first time she’d had to actually take charge aside from ordering someone to sit down and stop aggravating their injuries.

“Move your ship out of the channel mouth.” the man said, sounding more exasperated than anything else. “The way it’s sitting now, another ship comes in and we’re gonna have two shipwrecks to clean up.”

Oh, that- he had a good point. “Will do, mister.” Sairia bobbed her head, then turned back to Tuuli and hurried over to her. “Think you can get a breeze going to carry us over that way?” she asked, gesturing towards the bow.

“Yeah, no problem.” Tuuli nodded, hissing through her teeth as she lifted her arms and pulled her shirt down to cover her whole torso. “Help me up.” she held out a hand, and Sairia pulled her to her feet. A few minutes later, with Tuuli directing the wind and her pulling on the wheel, they glided to a stop at the edge of the peninsula. Okay, halfway past the edge of the peninsula, but she wasn’t gonna get on Tuuli’s case about it.

“Crocus, do we have company?” another voice called from, well, presumably within the lighthouse.

“Yeah. Pirates.” the old man, Crocus, called over his shoulder. Sairia turned to Tuuli, and pointed at the bench around the base of the main mast.

“Sit down.” she said firmly. “I’ll get you an ice pack.”

Tuuli nodded, and Sairia hurried up the stairs to the kitchen. Sure, she had single-use cold packs in her kit, but those were for when they didn’t have a freezer on hand. She scooped some ice out into a dishcloth, and after the fabric was tied and folded tight enough she was certain none of the cubes would fall out she headed back onto the deck.

“Oh, so you’re rookies?” the second voice was saying as she started down the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye she registered that he was tall and pale, with lanky limbs and hair not unlike Kyla’s. Most of her attention, though, was focused on Tuuli. Tuuli who was, quite definitely, _not_ sitting on the mast bench, but instead approaching the railing. “Ah, what lovely young ladies!” he exclaimed as Tuuli approached the railing. “May I see your panties?”

Sairia’s head snapped around to look at him, mouth already half open to say _hell_ no before she registered his appearance. He wasn’t just pale, he was _deathly_ pale, empty eye sockets and perpetual grin somehow managing to project a hopeful look.

“Soul King!” Tuuli squealed, louder and higher pitched than Sairia had ever heard her.

“Pervy skeleton!” Sairia screamed, and pitched the ice pack at his head. Distantly, she heard Tuuli continuing to squeal and Kyla laughing. Mostly, though, her attention was focused on the afro skeleton currently sitting up and rubbing the lump on its skull. Why- _how_ was there a lump? Sure, that happened when she whacked Ryan or Kyla, but that was flesh and blood swelling in response to localized blunt force trauma. It didn’t work on bare bone.

“Tuuli, you know him?” Kyla asked, walking up next to the navigator and leaning on the railing.

“Of course! That’s Soul King Brook!” Tuuli was bouncing on the balls of her feet, grinning fit to burst. Sairia didn’t think she’d seen the blue haired girl this happy or excited in the entire time they’d known each other. “I grew up listening to his music!”

“And who’re you?” the old man with the petals asked tersely.

“Ren Kyla, captain of the Jubilee Pirates.” Kyla said, standing straight and resting one hand on her swords. “Permission to come ashore?”

“Granted.” the old man grinned.

“Um, question.” Ryan said slowly, and Sairia looked up to where he was standing at the top of the steps. “What’s with the talking skeleton?”

“Welcome to the Grand Line.” Kyla grinned, and vaulted the railing.

\---

The old man, she quickly learned, was named Crocus. He’d been the lighthouse keeper for basically ever, with a few years as a pirate ship’s doctor in the middle. Apparently to look for Soul King’s crew, which was pretty damn awesome.

Once Crocus had confirmed Sairia’s diagnosis of bruised ribs, and she’d been given an ice pack to hold to her chest to minimize swelling, Tuuli was allowed to get up and move around. Kyla had apparently hit it off with Soul King while she was getting poked and prodded and lectured on not over-exerting herself, and now was sitting on the ground in front of him while he picked the braids from her hair with his skeletal fingers. Ryan was watching with evident unease, and Tuuli grinned as she flicked a gust of wind his way.

“Lighten up, musclehead.” she laughed. “You look like someone just dumped a bucket of worms on you.”

“Cap’s getting her hair done by a _soulless skeleton_.” he said, and Tuuli rolled her eyes. Again with the soulless thing!

“His stage name was _Soul_ King Brook.” she crossed her arms, using her forearms to pin the ice pack in place as she started towards the infuriating swordsman. “I’m pretty sure he has a soul.”

“He’s a fruit user.” Ryan scowled. “You guys don’t have souls.”

“Actually, all Brook’s got left is his soul.” Crocus interjected. “That’s what’s animating his dead old bones.”

Ryan scowled, and Tuuli turned towards the currently laughing musician in question. Damn, she hadn’t grabbed any of her TDs when they left Baterilla. She didn’t have anything for him to sign! Still, she wasn’t going to miss a chance to talk to a real live rock star. Or, un-alive. Half alive?

“And then Tuuli made this _awesome_ waterspout, and completely knocked him off the deck!” Kyla said with a wide grin, gesturing with her hands like she was spinning and bending something. Which was... actually the hand motion she’d used with Stupränna, huh. Kyla was more perceptive than she’d thought.

“Really.” Soul King hummed, sounding pleased. “That’s quite an impressive devil fruit you have, Miss Tuuli.”

“Oh.” she squeaked, standing up straighter and bringing her balled fists together in front of her chest. “You really think so?”

“Of course!” Soul King turned his head and his fleshless skull seemed to project a fond smile at her. _At her_ , oh gods this was the best day of her _life_. “Why, with a gift like that you could cross the Calm Belts at will.”

“Please.” Kyla rolled her eyes, but her pale cheek was dusted with pink and her lips still curled up in a small smile. “I can’t fend off sea kings yet, even with Ryan’s help.”

“I’m a huge fan.” Tuuli blurted, and over her pulse in her ears she distantly heard Ryan laughing and making a crack about her definitely making enough of a breeze to qualify. “Of your music, I mean.” she clarified when Soul King looked confused. “Or, well, my parents are but I know all your songs and-”

“Really?” Kyla and Soul King asked at the same time, cutting her off before she could ramble any further.

“Mmhmm.” Tuuli nodded. “My parents used to put me to sleep by playing a TD of your acoustic songs.”

“That’s adorable.” Kyla grinned as Soul King went ‘aww’ and pressed a hand to his chest.

“You mean _were_ , right?” Sairia asked as Soul King went back to doing Kyla’s hair, teasing the freed curls up into a smaller version of his own afro. “Your parents _were_ fans.”

“No?” Tuuli frowned. “They’re perfectly fine, they’re just both sailors so they’re never home.”

“So, wait.” Ryan frowned. “If they’re alive, what are they gonna think when they get home and you’re gone?”

“Oh, it’s okay.” Tuuli waved a hand dismissively. “I left a note.”

\---

Dear Mom and Dad:

I know you both tend to jump to the worst conclusion, so I’ll start this letter off simple. I haven’t been kidnapped. I have not been coerced into writing this letter, or forced to do anything against my will. Also, don’t worry about the bloodstain on the kitchen floor, I’ll get to that later but please don’t worry about it. As I write this, I am in good health, but I’ve changed a lot since you saw me last. I’m stronger, lots stronger, but I had to cut my hair short. Like, reeeally short. Also, no easy way to put this, I can’t swim anymore. A week after you left, my friends and I found a devil fruit. It was pretty small, as devil fruits go, and Inge bet I couldn’t fit the whole thing in my mouth. I did, stem and all, but then I kinda accidentally swallowed it.

It’s the Reppū-Reppū no Mi, and once I get the hang of its power I’ll probably be able to sail a ship right through the calm belt. ~~Or I could if there weren’t Sea Kings.~~ The problem is, I can’t control it very well yet. I was put on “excused medical absence” until I can stop blowing ~~shit~~ stuff all over the place, and I’m living at home until then as well. The bloodstain in the kitchen is, as I write this, a month and a half old. There was a knife on the counter when I brought my bags home from school, and it caught me across the forehead hard enough I kinda bled a lot. Please don’t worry about it, **I’m fine**. I still haven’t gotten the hang of my powers, and at this rate I won’t be able to graduate on time. I’ll go mad waiting for the next Marine recruitment ship (they suck, but what sane shipping company is gonna hire a human anchor?) so I’m leaving. Well, when you’re reading this I’ve already left.

A little crew arrived this morning. And I mean **really** little. Like, three people on a caravel little. They’re all weirdos, and the captain is my age. They say they’re pirates, even though they don’t have a flag or crew name yet, and I believe them. With a captain that young the only other option is bounty hunters, and if they were, why would they call themselves pirates? Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to join their crew. The captain, her name’s Kyla and she’s **crazy** , says that she’s going to stop the Cutlass Serpents from raiding us, and I said if she managed it then I would join her crew as navigator, since they don’t have one yet. She doesn’t care that I can’t control my powers, or that I don’t have a diploma. She doesn’t even care that I can’t swim due to my devil fruit.

Please, **please** don’t be mad. I’ve always wanted to be a navigator, just like you mom, so just ~~consider this me joining the family business a little early. And with pirates.~~ think of this as me chasing my dream. If we cross paths on the sea, I’ll make sure my captain and her psycho swordsman use the backs of their blades on you.

Love, your daughter Tuuli

\---

Certain things about the Grand Line, Ryan had known to expect. Extreme weather, stronger enemies, marginally more competent Marines. He hadn’t known to expect the roughness of the ride in, or the strangeness of the lighthouse keepers, or their jaw-dropping pet.

“Laboon, look!” Brook called, waving one bony hand to catch the eye of the _fucking massive_ black whale. It turned, displaying razor sharp teeth at least as long as he was tall when it opened its mouth to let out a long, low sound that rattled his bones. Absurdly, the freak who was made _only_ of bones seemed completely unaffected by this noise, simply laughing its strange laugh and gesturing at Kyla. “This is Kyla.”

The whale’s pupil contracted, and it let out a near deafening bellow before sinking down into the water. A second later it burst back out, and Ryan threw himself in front of Sairia with his swords drawn, even though they’d do next to nothing against a wall of blubber the size of a small island. The whale, however, didn’t beach itself and crush them all. It merely fell back down into the water head first, sending up a wave that soaked him to the bone and knocked both fruit users soundly off their feet. Behind him, Sairia spluttered and shook her head, one of her braids slapping wetly against his cheek.

“What. The fuck.” he said, staring at the rippling ocean as the dark shape under the surface grew smaller.

“He thinks you’re a baby whale!” Crocus laughed, the sound far heartier than Ryan would have expected out of his wizened old frame. “You didn’t think that through, did you Brook?”

“No.” the skeleton said pitifully, and Ryan couldn’t help it, he laughed. Kyla joined in after a second, and when the whale resurface it let out a few short, sharp sounds which might’ve been its own attempt at laughter.

“Man, Cap.” he grinned when the laughter had abated. “If this is what the start of your Paradise looks like, I can only imagine all the shit we’re gonna run into in the New World!”

“What’s that on his forehead?” Sairia asked, stepping up beside him and wringing out one of her braids.

“The scars?” Crocus asked in return, and Ryan rolled his eyes. Obviously not the scars. Sairia was a doctor, not a fucking vet.

“I think she means the Pirate King’s jolly roger.” Tuuli groaned, picking herself up out of a puddle.

“Yeah, that.” Sairia nodded. “Why would the Pirate King care about one dumb whale?”

Crocus laughed again, and the skeleton laughed with him. “Laboon is his friend.” Brook said with its unnerving, ever-present skeletal grin. “And quite clever, I’ll have you know.”

“Clever enough to sing along to a song?” Kyla grinned at Tuuli.

“Certainly!” Brook exclaimed, and reached inside its jacket to pull out a full fucking fiddle and bow. That was just too freaky. Tuuli just about fainted when the skeleton started to play, despite the fact that it was just playing a drinking song known across all four blues. The whale did seem to be singing along, though, bobbing in time and making low, enthusiastic sounds which were more or less in tune.

The Grand Line really was a fucking weird place. Despite himself, Ryan was looking forward to seeing what sorts of enemies this crazy sea would bring.


	14. Rum Valley

Ryan slumped against the railing with a groan, shivering as he blew into his cupped hands. First a heat wave, then typhoon, then a fucking _blizzard_ , and now it was raining. Not any kind of crazy rain, just a gentle, steady drizzle of cold water. It was the most normal weather they’d gotten since leaving Twin Capes. Visibility was down, but the waves weren’t crazy high so he could relax for a minute.

“Land ho!” Sairia called, pointing starboard of the bow. “I think.” her voice dropped in enthusiam. Tuuli pulled down her glasses, and raised a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted.

“That’s definitely an island.” she said, and put her glasses back on as she looked down at her wrist. “My needle is pointing right at it.” she stated, turning to Kyla at the helm. “Do we approach?”

“Is that even a question?” Kyla laughed, spinning the wheel to turn them towards the low smudge of land. Half an hour later the rain had petered out and Ryan was able to make out a few tall, spindly buildings with what looked like rope bridges strung between their uppermost levels, but nothing else. Another half hour of sailing brought them to a dock with a good number of fishing boats, a handful of ones close to their own in size, and one massive thing with a wolf head for a bowsprit that looked like it coud take on a marine battleship in a cannon fight.

“Captain, are you sure we should dock here?” Tuuli asked, wrapping her arms around her chest with a slight wince. “This place gives me the creeps.”

“Well we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Kyla said, but a smile was pulling at the edges of her mouth as she spoke. “Sails up, We don’t want a repeat of what happened at Baterilla.”

“Yes, Cap!” Ryan grinned.  
“On it.” Sairia said with a nod.

Tuuli reined in the wind, and as they glided into port Ryan squinted through the fog at the spires. They seemed to be placed evenly along the shore, probably all the way around the island. Past them, the fog seemed to thicken, like it was collecting in a large depression in the ground. He tied off the Dancer when it came to a stop, and once everyone was on the dock he took his usual spot just behind and to the right of Kyla as they advanced. Sairia and Tuuli walked side by side a few paces behind him, and Kyla let her hands swing freely but he kept one hand on Baila. This place was giving him bad vibes.

“Hello!” Kyla called out, looking just to the side of one of the towers which stood on either side of the pier. “How much is it to dock here while our pose sets?”

“You have good eyes.” a woman’s voice said, and a figure approached through the mist. She was taller than Kyla, but not by much, and as she drew closer Ryan realized it was only because she wore high heels. “Docking’s five thousand beri a night due by dusk, or you can pay thirty thousand up front for a week at a time.”

“How long does it take the pose to set here?” Tuuli asked, and the woman looked past Ryan to the navigator.

“Three weeks, deary.”

“If we pay all three at once, do we get anything extra off?” Ryan asked, trying to calculate how much cash they had left. The small briefcase of cash from Ashwinder was five million, and... and that was definitely more than enough to feed all of them for three weeks. He didn’t have to worry about money right now, they had five fucking _million_ beri. And if they were lucky, they’d never have to worry about money ever again, but it was still better to be frugal where possible.

“Ha! Not likely.” the woman grinned. “The rates at this dock are the best around.”

So there were other docks around. Simple logic said that they were business competitors of hers. Either this half-full dock was all the boats the island had to offer, or she was lying. Ryan was more willing to bet on the latter. “Hmm, not sure I’m willing to take your word on that.” he said, releasing Baila and tapping his chin as if considering. “Captain, what do you say we do a quick circuit of the island? Check out the rates at any other docks we find.”

“Hmm, depends.” Kyla tilted her head and turned to look at the devil fruit user behind her. “Think we can circle the island before dusk, Tuuli?”

“Maybe?” Tuuli wiggled her hand side to side. “Depends on how big it is, really.”

“With you onboard, I’m sure we’ll manage.” Kyla grinned and gave him a nod. “If you think it’s best, we’ll go-”

“Seventy five.” the woman interrupted, and Ryan felt a smug smirk threatening. The Grand Line may have crazy weather, but people were people no matter where you went. Threaten a person’s income, and they got a hell of a lot more cooperative. “But I won’t go any lower.”

“Pleasure doing business with you.” Ryan grinned. “Cap, you go on ahead. I’ll grab the money and catch up after paying.”

“Sure thing.” Kyla beamed and gave him a thumbs up.

\---

After settling payment with the dock owner, and getting it in writing that he had indeed paid her, Ryan headed inland. The woman had said that center of the island was sunken, like one big hole, and that was why the fog pooled there. From the way the path was sloping down under his feet, Ryan was inclinced to believe her.

After a minute of walking, two bright spots appeared out of the fog. Torches, he realized as he got closer. Torches mounted at the top ends of a pair of railings. Stairs? He tested with his foot, and yeah this was a set of stairs. Well, at least he didn’t have to worry about getting lost in the fog, or about falling off. The railings would keep him on the right track.

Climbing back up these stairs, he realized after a few torch-marked landings where the steps turned around, was going to be murder. The dock owner must live up there. And how the hell did anybody bring down their catch of fish? He was still wondering about that last one when he went another step down and the fog suddenly cleared. The sight that greeted him took hhis breath away.

The fog formed a cloudy ceiling over a beautiful town ringed by towers of pale green stone. The bridges between these ones were clearly visible, as were the large cables running from just under their roofs up and out into the fog. There was a large basket-like thing slowly coming down one of them, and Ryan grinned as it came to a stop just barely overlapping the open side of the spire. So that was how the locals got around. They could catch one up to the dock later to sleep on the ship. Or grab more money and clothes, if it’d be more economical to stay in town for a few weeks. They had to have places to stay.

“You must be Ryan!” exclaimed a boy as he approached the foot of the stairs. He only looked a few years younger than Ryan, but his face was still round-cheeked with baby fat. “Your captain wanted me to tell you they’re in the Foggy Hog.” he pointed downhill towards what must be the main street of the town, at a building with a pink and grey sign that looked vaguely like a pig.

“Thanks, kid.” Ryan nodded, and headed down the sloping street. The Foggy Hog, when he reached it, turned out to be a bar. He was glad he’d kept the rest of the wad of cash from paying their dock fee on hand. The way Kyla ate, they’d need it. Dining and dashing on their first day in town was a terrible plan.

“Hey, Ryan!” Sairia called when he walked in the doors. “Over here!”

Ryan took a seat at the booth next to his sister, and Kyla handed him a mug of what was undoubtedly rum.

“I figured you’d want to try it for yourself.” she said, sitting back and popping a handful of pretzels in her mouth. “It’s called the Rum Valley Special.”

“Thanks.” he nodded at his captain, and took a drink. That was actually pretty damn good. “I’m gonna guess this place is called Rum Valley?”

“Yep.” Sairia bobbed her head. “Lady behind the bar bragged a bit about how theirs is the bast rum this side of the Red Line.”

“Well, I’m not disagreeing.” Ryan chuckled, and took another swig of his drink. “So, Cap. We staying for dinner?”

“Well it’s almost time to eat anyways, so why not.” she grinned. “I’m sure they’ve got some good food here.”

“Better than my cooking, at any rate.” Sairia quipped.

“Hear hear.” Tuuli grinned, and raised her mug to knock against Sairia’s.

Ryan leaned back against the bench, and scanned the menu behind the bar as he took another sip of his drink. Prices looked pretty damn reasonable, compared to some of the portside places back on Sint, and when his eyes drifted down to scan the people at the bar he found himself grinning. _Plenty_ of good-looking folks in his league. He wouldn’t mind three weeks here at _all_.

\---

“Look, Karrie. I’ve got the rope, he’s dead to the world, we stuff his socks in his mouth and haul him up to the ship on the first cable car. Easiest job we’ve done all year.”

Ryan prised his eyes open, but stayed silent and otherwise still. Rope? He didn’t mind being pinned, but getting tied up was another matter entirely.

“Rolf, I love you, but you’re an idiot.” Karolina sighed. “You saw those sword tricks. We leave him alive, he’s _going_ to get loose by morning.”

Wait, leave who alive?

“Yeah, but if we take his head off we have to keep it in the fridge all the way there, and that’s really fucking gross.”

Wait, fuck, they were talking about him. They were bounty hunters. He had a bounty now. _Fuck_.

“It’s only gross if you put it on the top shelf, at eye height, without bagging it.”

“ _One_ time!”

“One time too many.”

“I swear, one of these days I’m going to ditch this stupid group for Renbow.” Rolf grumbled.

Renbow. Where had he heard that before? Oh, right, they were a bounty hunter organization that had made the papers when they moved into the Grand Line.

“You’d never.” Karolina scoffed. “Kingsfoil is the only group on this island that lets you play with your food the way you like.”

So there were multiple bounty hunter organizations with a presence here? Great. Just fucking great. He really didn’t want to find out how Rolf liked to ‘play with his food’, especially if it involved ropes, so Ryan rolled towards the edge of the bed slowly. He exhaled when the springs didn’t squeak, and again when the floorboards held his weight silently. He kept low as he grabbed his things, thankful that he’d been too drunk to bother with flinging them all the way across the room. Pants, sock, shoes, swords... fuck, the rest of his shit must have gotten thrown off the other side of the bed. His head was starting to hurt, but that was good. Start of a hangover meant he wasn’t drunk anymore, and he would _not_ be able to pull off an escape if he was at anything less than full coordination.

Yanking his clothes on took no time at all, and he took a moment to mourn the loss of a truly awesome vest before sliding the window open. The fog still hovered over the town, but lower now, obscuring the tops of the towers which ringed the main cluster of buildings. Okay, it’d fucking suck, but he’d go up the stairs back to the Dancer and spend the rest of the night there. Put on clean clothes, fix himself a nice greasy breakfast once it brightened up a bit, and then come down and not hit on those two again tomorrow night.

He hopped out the window, and promptly regretted his decision as he remembered he was on the fourth floor not the second. A coat of haki saved him from broken bones, but it also left a sizable dent in the street. A dent which came from an uncomfortably loud impact. Two faces appeared in the window he’d just jumped out of less than a second later, and he absently noticed that Karolina had fixed her smudged lipstick.

“I fucking told you so!” she shrieked, and gave Rolf a shove. “Scarface is getting away!” she yelled loud enough to make him wince, and as lights began to come on Ryan bolted. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Two bounty hunters, he could handle no problem. Twenty bounty hunters, he could probably tak now that he had a decent gasp on haki. What seemed like half a town of them? Nope, waaay outside his pay grade. He needed Kyla’s help for this. But where was she?

Ryan wracked his brain as he ran, sticking to the bountiful shadows as much as he was able. Something about an inn, but where? He couldn’t check every room at every inn in town! He ducked behind a dumpster and clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his breathing as a small crowd ran past. Think, he had to think. Tuuli and Sairia had been drunk too, so Kyla had probably taken them somewhere close to the bar. So he’d go to the bar and- and what? Bang on the door of every inn until someone admitted to having his nakama in one of the rooms?

The answer, when it came to him a second later, was so obvious he couldn’t help but smack himself in the face. Haki! His observation haki was still kinda shit, but it was good enough to cover one building if he concentrated. He just had to get a minute or two on the roof of each inn, until he caught the familiar signals of his sister, captain, and their soulless navigator.

\---

Getting onto the roof of the nearest inn wasn’t a problem, but getting enough time to Observe was a different story. The bounty hunters seemed to have caught on, and were now massing on the rooftops, heaviest on what must be the other inns. Which was, on the one hand, awesome. Now he didn’t have to bother figuring out which ones he needed to go to. On the other hand, though, he now had to _fight_ what looked like at least a hundred bounty hunters. Individually they weren’t that much of a challenge, but when they ganged up on him it got a hell of a lot harder to keep his concentration for haki.

“You know, you guys are some real jerks.” he panted, adjusting his grip on his swords. “Ganging up on your bouny head? That’s just plain _rude_.”

“Don’t care.” the hulking man in front of him grinned.

Ryan gritted his teeth, and launched himself forward with Voski held out in front of him like a fencing sabre. 

“ _Fringant Renard_!” he yelled, and the bounty hunter went down like a sack of bricks with blood spurting from his neck. Damn, still had to work on his aim with that one.

The little girl behind him howled, and Ryan staggered forwards as a bullet smacked into his shoulder. It bounced off, thank the gods for haki, and he turned around with his best evil grin. “That wasn’t too smart, kid.” he said, readying one of his swords for a slash. She burst into tears, and when she ducked her head he lifted his arm across his chest. “Blank Backhand!” he cracked the back of his sword against her head, and she crumpled unconscious to the roof. Would probably have one hell of a headache when she woke up, but he wasn’t about to murder a kid.

He heard the sound of more bounty hunters charging, and quickly focused his willpower outward, Observing the building below. No familliar presences. Alright, time to move on to the next one. He ran for the edge of the roof, launched himself off, and lashed his swords out to both sides as he tumbled on the next roof. The bounty hunters went down with pained yelps. Ryan rolled to his feet and kept running. He Observed ahead, and- oh thank _fuck_ , he would not have been able to handle two more rooftops full of bounty hunters.

Instead of jumping to the rooftop of the next inn, Ryan pulled up his armament haki as he fell and crashed through a window. “Cap!” he bellowed, charging down the hall. “We gotta move!”

“Ryan?” Tuuli mumbled, poking her head of the door. “What the fu-” Ryan shouldered the door open, cutting her off as he burst into the room. Sairia was rubbing her eyes and yawning, but Kyla was sliding her swords into her haramaki.

“Sairia, Tuuli, grab your shit.” she said, drawing her katana. “We’re making a run for the ship.”

“But we haven’t even resupplied yet!” Sairia exclaimed, finally seeming to wake up.

“We’ve still got three weeks until my pose sets.” Tuuli said, grabbing her shirt from the foot of the bed and pulling it on. “We’ll have plenty of time to resupply then.” |

Fuck, three more weeks of this? Well, technically only twenty days and some hours, but still. Ryan was _not_ looking forward to their time on this island.


	15. Woss Island

Tuuli swore and grabbed Kyla by the arm, jerking her around to face the island they were approaching. “We can’t land there.” she said, jabbing a finger at the near port.

“What, Marines?” Kyla asked, shading her eyes and squinting.

“Worse.” Tuuli said gravely. “World Government.”

“Uuugh.” Ryan and Sairia groaned in concern.

“And here I was looking forward to some actual down-time after that Rum Valley debacle.” the blond swordsman complained.

“It can-” Tuuli stopped and shook her head. “Nevermind, with the way you idiots keep picking fights we’re going to fucking die.”

“Hey, I don’t start fights without a good reason.” Kyla huffed.  
“I don’t pick fights!” Ryan exclaimed at the same time. “Rum Valley was full of bounty hunters! They’re the ones who kept starting shit!”

“Uh-huh.” Tuuli said with a flat look at the scarred swordsman, before focusing back on the crazy girl she’d chosen to call her captain for some gods-forsaken reason. “Do you want to circle and look for an actual dock, or try to find somewhere we can weigh anchor without being spotted?”

“Hmm.” Kyla pursed her lips. “Find somewhere discreet. World Government means we have to keep an extra low profile.”

“Got it.” Tuuli nodded, and went back to the wheel. The whole island seemed to be one big slope, which meant that the back end of it should be a cliff. If they were lucky, there would be a shallow beach at the base of said cliff. If they were unlucky, they might have to drop their flag to avoid being sunk in port.

“Hey, wind for brains!” Ryan yelled, and Tuuli flicked a breeze at him to redirect his yelling overboard. She was too busy to fuck with him right now. | The base of the cliff was littered with large boulders, and Tuuli groaned internally. Great, it was looking like they’d be playing cowards. Captain wouldn’t be happy about that.

“Where’re they going?” Sairia asked, and Tuuli followed the medic’s pointing finger to a small rowboat which was headed straight at the cliff.

“Good question.” she answered, and lowered her glasses. “It looks like there’s a cave up there!”

“Ooh, a cave.” Kyla grinned. “Piratey. Think we’ll fit?”

“I’ll judge that when we’re closer.” Tuuli said, and turned the wheel so they swung out away from the island. The cave, once she could make out its full mouth, looked more than big enough for the Dancer to fit. In fact it could probably fit their little caravel several times over. “It’s definitely big enough.” she said, calming the wind around the sails so they glided to a stop. “Do you want to-”

“Yes.” Kyla said quickly, eyes sparkling.

“What are you, stupid?” Ryan taunted. “You know that’s not even a question.”

“Not right now, you stingy ass.” Tuuli fired back, twisting the natural wind so it would push them where they needed to go. “I’m trying not to crash the ship.”

“Oh, right. You need all your air-headed brains for that.”

“Ryan, shut up and let her steer.” Sairia huffed.

Thankfully he seemed to listen to his sister, because Tuuli didn’t have to direct his ranting overboard again. She cut the wind when they were about to enter the cave, and they glided into possibly the biggest cavern she’d ever seen.

“Whoa.” Sairia breathed, and Tuuli nodded as she looked around the edge. In spots there was a stone pathway, in others it was wood, but it ringed the cave at the level of a dock more or less evenly.

“Heeeey, fresh meat!” someone laughed.

“Show us your tits!” another man cat-called. Tuuli put up a finger, and in her peripheral vision she saw Sairia do the same while Kyla just glared.

“That’s double for you!” an old man yelled from an adjoined cave that opened up a few feet above the dock. “Docking fee’s eight thousand beri daily.” he said to them as they pulled into an empty spot. “Cash up front.”

“Seems like a rip-off.” Ryan muttered.

“I heard that.” the man said as Kyla jumped down and started tying off ropes Sairia threw to her.

“Quit being such a cheapskate.” Tuuli rolled her eyes. “We’re paying not to get arrested or sunk in port.”

“Ryan, we’ve got the cash right?” Kyla asked, jumping back up onto the deck. How she did that, Tuuli still wasn’t sure. Maybe growing up in the new world had made her really good at jumping?

“Well, yeah, but-”

“How many days will it cover?”

“Can’t say, off the top of my head.” he shrugged.

“Some treasurer you are.” Tuuli scoffed. “Go get the fee for one day, and I’ll talk to the old coot about how long we’ll need to be here.”

“I can still hear you, ya know.” the old man called, and Tuuli winced. The acoustics in this cave must be incredible. That or he had a devil fruit. She sorta hoped it was acoustics.

“Sorry, sir.” she said, turning to face him with a pasted-on smile. “Could you tell us how many days it takes for a log pose to set on this island?”

“Four days.” the man said, and Tuuli nodded. Thirty two thousand beri was pretty damn steep, but at least they would only have to dodge world government officials for half a week. Then again, after the _disaster_ which had been Rum Valley even a month of avoiding government officials would be a piece of cake. Motion in her peripheral vision drew Tuuli’s attention, and she blasted the incoming bag with a shot of wind to stop it from slamming into her head.

“Eight thousand.” Ryan said with a smirk. Tuuli flipped a gust at his face hard enough to make him stagger back, and picked the bag up off the grassy deck. It was heavier than paper money could account for, which meant he’d loaded it up with coins. Asshole.

“Prepare three more bags.” Kyla said to Ryan, pulling her two-strand braids back into a thick ponytail. “And get our allowances ready. We’ve got a new island to check out!”

“Will do, Cap.” Ryan grinned. Tuuli straightened her shirt, tucked the neck of the money bag through a belt loop, and helped Sairia throw the ladder over the edge.

“Can you grab my spending money while I pay the dock fee?” she asked the medic.

“No problem.” Sairia smiled.


	16. Laying Low

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! Sorry about the unannounced break last week. Life's been crazy lately, and I've found myself with significantly less time to write, which may translate to less frequent updates on this story. Hopefully not, but we'll see.

When Marines and World Government goons were around, less-than-law-abiding people tended to do one of two things. Go to ground in seedy neighbourhoods the authorities routinely ignored, or go about their business and hope they didn’t get arrested. Kyla actually kinda liked being on islands where there was higher-than-usual law enforcement activity, since the combination of high tension and usually bountiful alcohol made a perfect environment for picking fights in. There were no shortage of drunk assholes who didn’t think twice about accepting her offer to prove how good she was with her swords, and since they were drunk she could play with them for a bit before taking them down with one good hit.

Or at least, that’s what she could do when Tuuli wasn’t around to grab her by the hair and drag her away. Kyla huffed and rubbed at her scalp around the twists her navigator had yanked to stop her from fighting from another jackass who insinuated her swords were just for show. “You are such a jerk.” she scowled.

“And _you_ are such an idiot.” Tuuli scowled right back. “People tend to die when you pick a fight, and nothing brings Marines faster than a dead body.”

“Then I’ll fight the Marines.” Kyla crossed her arms as they started walking again.

“And they’ll call for backup because they’re gutless jackholes who don’t give half a damn about a fair fight.”

“Who said they’d have a chance to call for backup?” Kyla grinned, narrowing her eyes and drawing her brows down to make sure it looked menacing instead of dorky. Tuuli punched her in the shoulder.

“We’re supposed to be lying low.” her navigator chastised.

“Yeah, but your idea of lying low is boriiiing.” she whined. “Can’t we at least go to a neighbourhood where there’s something to _do_?”

“You mean a neighborhood with Marines for you to fight.” Tuuli said, flat and disapproving.

“Only if they start it.” Kyla said quickly. She didn’t pick fights for no reason, after all. It just so happened that Marines could be counted on to be the instigators because she was a wanted pirate

“We’re staying in the places that dockmaster told us were safe.” the navigator said, her tone clearly indicating an end to the conversation. But of course, Kyla was the captain, she didn’t _have_ to listen to her navigator. It was highly suggested, but not necessary.

“But what if we do not that?” Kyla asked rhetorically, skipping ahead and turning to walk backwards in front of Tuuli. “I’m sure the shops in downtown will have nicer clothes.” she pointed out, and Tuuli’s scowl faded. _Score_.

“You have a point there.” she conceded. “But we don’t exactly look like the type of people who’d be shopping in upscale stores.”

“So?” Kyla turned on her heel to walk forwards again, and waited for Tuuli to come up next to her so she could link arms with her navigator. “Anybody talks shit about us, I’ll introduce ‘em to Sengo.”

“No, you won’t.” Tuuli said sternly. Oh, yeah, things tended to get extra bloody when Sengo was involved. If they were in a clothes store, that’d be pretty bad.

“Fine, I’ll introduce them to my fists.” she raised a hand and curled her fingers loosely against her palm, coating her knuckles with haki just pink enough to be visible.

“And get the Marines called on us.” Tuuli sighed, but she didn’t try to stop them from heading towards Main Street.

“Hey, the pose is gonna be set in a few hours anyways, right?” Kyla stepped sideways slightly, knocking her hip against Tuuli’s. “Marines get called, I can beat them up and we’ll spend some time keeping parrot company.”

“Fine.” Tuuli grinned, adjusting her arm in Kyla’s. “Let’s see if this place has a Criminal store.”

“Or a Dosokoi Panda.” Kyla suggested.

“They’re probably across the street from each other.” Tuuli laughed, the da reh reh reh familiar and maybe louder than was polite but that was alright. Pirates didn’t have to care about things like manners.

\---

“Oh, hey! Sairia!” Kyla called out, waving her arm in the air. The pigtailed head of red-brown hair turned, and sure enough that was her vice-captain at the far end of the block. Sairia frowned, and started through the crowd towards them.

“What are you doing here?” she asked when she got into conversational distance.

“Shopping.” Kyla grinned, lifting the bags of clothes Tuuli had bought.

“What are _you_ doing here?” her navigator asked. “Where’s your meathead brother?”

“Getting his tattoo finished.” Sairia said dismissively. “He’ll be staying put for another hour or so.”

“And you’re not there with him because...?”

“Is it a crime to want to go shopping?” Sairia huffed, crossing her arms. Now that Kyla looked, there was a pair of brightly coloured paper bags hanging from her wrist. “I don’t have a bounty, I’m free to go wherever the fuck I want.”

“Fair.” Kyla nodded. They’d been sticking to the lawless zones to avoid getting pinged by Marines, but Sairia didn’t have that problem. “Whatcha got there?” she inclined her head towards the bags.

“Two new blouses in here, and a petticoat in here.” Sairia indicated her bags one after the other. “You?”

“Mostly my stuff.” Tuuli shrugged.

“Entirely your stuff.” Kyla corrected. “I didn’t end up getting that shirt.”

“Oh, right, too restrictive.” Tuuli nodded.

“We should get you something.” Sairia said, stepping aside to let someone pass on the sidewalk.

“Maybe a TD to replace that nonsense one you still play when Sairia makes you sleep in the infirmary.” Tuuli teased. Kyla elbowed her in the ribs.

“Shut up. That was a birthday present.”

“Joking, joking.” Tuuli held up her hands. “But seriously, have you even spent any of your allowance yet?”

“Only on food.” Kyla admitted. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t find shopping interesting. She already had a perfectly functional wardrobe and everything she needed to take care of her swords. Anything else was just clutter in the bunk room, which they had plenty of already.

“Hmm, have you seen anywhere you want to go?” Sairia tilted her head. “Like, a theme park or something?”

“Actually...” Kyla grinned. “There was this one place.”

“No.” Tuuli said, shooting her a glare. “I already told you we’re not going there.”

“Aww, come on Tuuli.” Sairia cajoled. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Yeah. If you’re not gonna let me get in a fight, at least let me watch one.” Kyla bounced on the balls of her feet. Sengo spiked with energy, and she stroked his saya absently. She’d have to use him in her next fight, once they got off this island. He was getting restless, thirsty for lifeblood. If she tried to spar with him in hand, Ryan would end up needing stitches at the very least.

“Ooh, an arena?” Sairia’s smile widened. “Tuuli, I’ll take her if you don’t want to.”

“But then I’d have to watch Ryan.” Tuuli pulled a face, and Kyla laughed.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Kyla grabbed Tuuli by the arm and pulled her along the sidewalk “We’ll go drop off your bags, catch a fight, and get dinner.”

“You just want to get out of dish duty.” Sairia prodded Kyla in the side, and she shrugged.

“Can you blame me?”

“Not really.” Tuuli shrugged. “And hey, bonus, we don’t have to eat Ryan’s cooking.”

“That is most definitely a bonus.” Sairia laughed, linking an arm around Tuuli’s free one. “Now let’s go drop our bags and go watch people beat each other up.”

\---

“Move aside.”

Sairia felt her mouth twitch in a smile as Kyla rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess.” she muttered, not turning to look at whoever had spoken. “He’s a self-important ass?”

“Sure looks like it.” Kyla said, her voice low. “He’s got bodyguards and I think he’s wearing a bigass ventillator on his head.”

“Don’t be rude.” Tuuli said, thumbing through the stack of bills she’d won betting on the last match. “Maybe he’s got breathing problems.”

“I said-”

“We heard you.” Kyla said, straightening up and looking over Sairia’s head at the self-entitled prick. “We just don’t give a shit.”

Several people gasped, and Sairia scoffed quietly. Really, did anybody here expect manners from a couple of pirates?

“Just move them.” another voice said, and Sairia didn’t even have to lift her head from watching the sand raking to know that this was the guy who wanted them to move, and the person who’d been speaking before was a bodyguard. “Remove these hideous wenches from my sight.”

Sairia felt Kyla tense, and finally turned to see the man who’d just insulted her and her nakama. He was dressed like an idiot, with a heavy-looking white robe thing and a glass box on his head with tubes running to a cannister on wheels that one of his four guards was maneuvering.

“What did you say?” Kyla asked, her tone even and controlled in the way that meant she was trying to keep her temper from flaring.

“And be especially rough with that one.” the man with the box on his head said with a sniff, gesturing at Sairia. “Its atrocious clothing offends me.”

“You’re the one with atrocious clothing.” Kyla snarled, suddenly in front of Sairia with her feet spread in a defensive stance and left hand hovering over her swords. “Now take that back, or I’ll make you regret opening your stupid pasty mouth in the first place.”

The place had gone quiet, Sairia realized belatedly, and after a second of concentration she was able to Observe the people in the stands a few feet behind them. They were terrified. Whatever Kyla was doing, it was a bad plan.

“You _dare_ -”

“Yep.” Kyla sounded like she was grinning, and Sairia’s hair stood on end as one burnt hand caressed the hilt of her captain’s katana. When that sword came out against anyone other than Ryan, people had a tendency to wind up dead. She relaxed marginally when Kyla’s hand moved to the hilt of her newest, smallest sword, but the ring of metal as it was drawn and the blade coated in black haki still sent a shiver down her spine. “I dare.”

“Kyla, maybe-”

“Did you not hear me?” the man with the box on his head asked, and struck one of his guards in the head with a riding crop. “Get rid of them!”

“Sairia, move.” Tuuli hissed, one slender hand wrapping around her elbow. She didn’t need to be told twice. They hurried over towards the packed front row seats, and Sairia wished she’d thought to grab her medical bag when they stopped on the ship. This was going to end with somebody bleeding.

“If you won’t apologize, I guess I’ve got no choice but to make you.” Kyla smiled wider, twisting her sword in her hand. Her knees bent, and then she was flying through the air with her sword back for a nameless brute force swing.

“You will not touch Saint Jalmack!” one of the guards exclaimed, and Sairia drew a quick gasp as the butt of a gun struck her captain’s head. Kyla went sideways, missing the pompous Jalmack guy, and then he laughed.

“Perhaps it will give good sport.” he sneered. “Have my prize fighter sent out. I want to see this ugly creature destroyed.”

“Of course.” one of the guards gave a quick bow, then hurried off. The rest of the entourage proceeded unhindered, and Sairia relaxed slightly. Kyla was more than a match for any pit fighter on this island. She’d be completely fine, and they could make fun of her for getting pistol whipped later.

“Hey, Tuuli?” Sairia put a hand over her friend’s fingers on her arm, getting the paler girl’s attention. “Do you think it’d be ethical to bet on a fight we already know the outcome of?”

Tuuli’s face cracked in a grin, and she chuckled. “Ethical enough for a pair of pirates.”


End file.
